Brighton set a mirror to West Ham! Without Rice, Soucek and Coufal, they could be in trouble again

Wednesday’s match between West Ham and Brighton ended in a 1-1 draw, but the home team were definitely the luckier team as the Seagulls’ strikers burned several chances. However, the match also showed how crucial the Czech legionnaires and captain Declan Rice are for David Moyes.

There has been a wave of criticism of the Czech national players recently, especially Vladimír Coufal, who has been out of the starting line-up for several games. Against Brighton, however, he was given a chance right from the start and was undoubtedly one of the best players of the match.

The centre pairing of Tomas Soucek and Declan Rice were also excellent as they both took the ball into the attacking half on several occasions. The Czech midfielder also scored a goal, which meant a point for West Ham.

This trio in particular, along with midfielder Pablo Fornals, stood out against Brighton, but otherwise it wasn’t a great spectacle as all London fans can be glad that Brighton’s strikers burned a few chances.

That Brighton would be dominant on the ball was expected and the match itself confirmed it, as they kept the ball on their hoofs in 66%. Moreover, West Ham’s defence often couldn’t cope with the combination of the visiting team and on several occasions allowed the opponents to create promising chances that didn’t end in a goal only because of their own incompetence.

It is the quality in finishing that is dragging down an otherwise brilliantly playing team of coach Graham Potter and one can count on the fact that once he leaves for a better engagement, which will very likely come sooner or later, Brighton will have a problem.

However, Brighton’s inability to finish the chances created is truly appalling in the current season with only three teams having scored fewer goals. West Ham have already managed to score almost half as many goals in the current Premier League season, yet only five points separate them in the table.

However, West Ham have scored ten goals either on the counter-attack or from standard kicks as they are tied for first place in this statistic with Liverpool, who have scored 18 more goals from play than coach Moyes’ team.

It was also standard kicks that were decisive in Wednesday’s match, when West Ham got the ball into the net twice, but only the Czech midfielder’s opening goal was conceded.

West Ham have a relatively good team, at least in terms of attack, and more courage in attack would certainly be useful. However, Moyes’ tactics are clear and it will be hard to change them.

As it is, however, 4th place is unsustainable for West Ham in the long term. Several points, as well as the one against Brighton, were gained by the London team thanks to “luck”, and with Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United and other teams getting stronger and stronger, a drop for the Hammers is to be expected.

And looking at their play, the departure of Soucek and Rice, and no doubt Coufal, whose centres are often brilliant, would be a tragedy for them and could return the club to relegation fighting.

Source: Premier League, Whoscored