Brighton & Hove Albion rounded off their season with their best ever points tally of 51 after a 3-1 home victory against West Ham. The victory denied the Hammers a place in next seasons Europa League and instead settled for a place in the Europa Conference League.
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It took the game seven minutes to have its first chance. Marc Cucurella made a run down the left and his cross hit Solly March but Moises Caicedo stormed in and sawhis effort denied by Lukasz Fabianski. Alexis MacAllister also saw and effort blocked by the Pole a few minutes later. The action in the first half was very limited, but four minutes before the break the Hammers took the lead after a Coufal throw in was misjudged by Lewis Dunk and Michail Antonio fired past Sanchez from just inside the penalty area. Tomas Soucek received a yellow card late on in the half for a needless foul on Marc Cucurella.
The home side flew out of the blocks in the second half and soon got back on level terms. Gross cut in on the left and although Dawson got his head to it the ball fell to Solly March who set up full back Joel Veltman to fire past Fabianski. It could’ve easily been 2-1 to the home side soon after as a ball into the area was diverted away from goal brilliantly by Aaron Cresswell to deny Danny Welbeck a certain goal.
Ten minutes from the end they finally took the lead. Great build up play between substitute Enock Mwepu and Danny Welbeck resulted in the latter feeding Pascal Gross, who turned his defender brilliantly to fire home. It was 3-1 in stoppage time as Danny Welbeck powered Veltman’s corner past the despairing Fabianski to add some gloss to the scoreline.
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Brighton boss Graham Potter spoke after the game, and confirmed that man of the match Pascal Gross is likely to stay at the club. He confirmed a deal is ’relatively done’. ‘He (Gross) has been brilliant for the club and we want him to stay’ he said.
