The Seagulls produced one of the finest performances of the season and increased pressure on West Ham manager David Moyes as his team remain far to close to the relegation zone.
It was another case of the curse of Brighton for West Ham – Moyes’ side have never beaten the Seagulls in the Premier League and left the Amex Stadium empty-handed, yet again, at the 12th attempt.
But this was far from unlucky. A penalty from Alexis Mac Allister, tap-ins for Joel Veltman and Kaoru Mitoma and a late strike from Danny Welbeck did the damage as the fans’ patience with Moyes ran out.
The usually supportive away following were singing his name in the first half, but he faced chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ and ‘sacked in the morning’ in the second.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has no such problems, and he watched from the stands with his feet up while he served a touchline ban for his red card in the tunnel against Fulham a fortnight ago. The Italian’s absence certainly did not knock his in-form side out of their stride.
Sussex World reporter Sam Morton was at the Amex Stadium and here’s the player ratings...
5. Dunk – 7:
The skipper was barely troubled at the back but he looked as commanding as ever and didn't put a foot wrong Photo: Steve Bardens
6. Estupiñán – 7:
Nice link up play with Mitoma and put in a few dangerous crosses. Excellent sliding challenge to get his team out of trouble. Great to see him back. Photo: Charlie Crowhurst
7. Groß – 8:
Brilliant. Composed and assured in the midfield. Lovely turn and ball across goal. Put it on a plate for Mitoma who made no mistake. Photo: Steve Bardens
8. Caicedo – 7:
A few misplaced passes early on but recovered and protected the defence expertly. Photo: Charlie Crowhurst