West Ham United failed to secure another season of Europa League football, after losing 3-1 against Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium, and failing to capitalise on Manchester United’s 1-0 loss at Selhurst Park.
In the eighth minute, Moises Caicedo found himself on the end of a deflected low-driven cross from the left-hand side by Marc Cucurella, but his shot was straight at Lukasz Fabianski who saved the effort calmly.
With just five minutes left of the first half, Michail Antonio rifled in a powerful effort from just outside the box into the top-left corner to give West Ham the lead, scoring his 10th goal of the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesFive minutes into the second half, Brighton got the equaliser. After the Hammers defence failed to clear the ball, Joel Veltman’s right-footed shot crept through the gloves of Fabianski.
62 minutes in, Danny Welbeck came agonisingly close to putting Brighton ahead following a quick counter-attack, seeing his effort just skim wide of the far post.
With just 10 minutes left, Brighton took the lead and completed the turnaround. Pascal Gross turned past his marker and fired his left-footed strike into the top-left corner of the net well beyond Fabianski.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn the 90th minute, Welbeck got his fifth Premier League career goal against West Ham, heading home from a corner to make it 3-1 and round off a perfect evening for the Seagulls. It’s the first time they’ve won on the final day of the season since being promoted to the Premier League in 2017.
When asked his thoughts on the victory, Graham Potter said: “We’re delighted to win… it hasn’t all been straightforward, there have been some dark moments.”
When questioned if West Ham had missed an opportunity by not defeating Brighton to secure Europa League football, David Moyes said: “Huge. We didn’t play well. Nothing about us in the second half which was required… at times we didn’t show any real desire.”
