Alphonse Areola shines as Brighton-West Ham game ends in goalless draw

LONDON: In the English Premier league gameweek 20, the match between Brighton and West Ham United ended in a goalless draw. This is Brighton's first clean sheet against the home side since May last year.

Just before half-time, Brighton midfielder, Pascal Gross headed the ball towards West Ham goalkeeper, Alphonse Areola but the keeper made a brilliant save to deny the midfielder from scoring the goal. This chance was counted as the best chance for them in the first half.

Joao Pedro continued the trend of making life easy for the West Ham goalie with an unsuccessful finish following a brilliant solo move, while Jakub Moder shot over the bar with the goal gaping five minutes before full-time.

The hosts had opportunities of their own, with Tomas Soucek missing a clear second-half chance and James Ward-Prowse denied by Jason Steele, but were the happier of the two sides to begin 2024 with a point that maintained them three points ahead of their visitors in the table.

It took 26 minutes for Ward-Prowse to send a pass through Bowen, whose low effort was pushed onto the post - and even that was brought back for a narrow offside. Ward-Prowse tried his luck again moments later but was denied by Jason Steele before Konstantinos Mavropanos drifted a clear header over the bar as the hosts came alive.

Pedro found space again to pick up Hinshelwood for another weak header, and Evan Ferguson shot wide with his first touch after coming on, but neither side threatened again until Moder's late error. With five minutes remaining, the unmarked Polish substitute met Gross' unintentional flick on a cross and leathered it over the bar with only Areola to beat.

"Tonight we lacked the quality that might make the difference at the other end of the pitch when we have the ball. But we are playing with two centre-halves who haven't played that much recently and a full-back who is the same. I thought the boys at the back have done a brilliant job. They did what they had to do and my goalkeeper played very well. We got a point from it," West Ham United manager David Moyes was quoted as saying after the match.

"I'm pleased with the performance. We earned a clean sheet so you're happy because Brighton earned a clean sheet. We created eight clear chances to score and I'm pleased with the performance, and the understanding of the play I want and demand. I'm very lucky because I have an incredible dressing room. We can play with so many injuries," Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi was quoted as saying after the match.