Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Brighton & Hove Albion - London Stadium, London, Britain - December 21, 2024 West Ham United's Mohammed Kudus in action with Brighton & Hove Albion's Mats Wieffer Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
LONDON (Reuters) -West Ham United midfielder Mohammed Kudus headed home in the second half to salvage a point in a lacklustre 1-1 Premier League draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
The result leaves the Hammers 14th with 20 points after 17 games, while Brighton are ninth on 25. It was a fitting outcome for two teams in uninspiring form with Brighton winless in their last five league games and West Ham with one victory from five.
Mats Wieffer put Brighton ahead in the 51st minute with his first Premier League goal when goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski fell under the challenge of Lewis Dunk whose header fell for the Dutch midfielder to fire home with his first touch.
There was a lengthy VAR check for offside and a foul before Brighton could really celebrate at the London Stadium.
West Ham, whose manager Julen Lopetegui has been under pressure, have now conceded their most top flight goals in a single calendar year, with 74, since 1967 (85).
Brighton's lead lasted just seven minutes, though, as their keeper Bart Verbruggen did well to bat away Jarrod Bowen's shot before a sprinting Kudus arrived just in time to head home for his third goal of the season.
Kudus has become popular for parking himself on a stool for his goal celebrations but changed it up on Saturday when he pulled out a wooden stool of a carved elephant before sitting down alongside team mate Crysencio Summerville.
"It's a special stool, a stool from Ghana," said Kudus. "I thought it would be nice to share a little bit of life from where I'm from."
What was a largely dull game ended with fireworks as both teams squandered terrific chances.
A brave piece of defending saw West Ham full back Aaron Wan-Bissaka dive to head away what looked like a certain goal for Tariq Lamptey at the death. The two collided in mid-air with Wan-Bissaka down holding his shoulder for several minutes.
Fabianski also made a couple of late saves to deny Brighton substitutes Yasin Ayari and Julio Enciso, while Kaoru Mitoma inexplicably missed what should have been an easy tap-in for the visitors that instead rang off the post.
"In the end it was our fault that we didn't leave the pitch as winners," said Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler.
"There were positive things but we also need to get the result to get out of this circle of bad experiences. It's the business to get results if you want to achieve something.
"We have to get our higher standards back. We can defend better. We have to keep going and we have to trust the process."
(Reporting by Lori Ewing in Manchester, England; Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Ken Ferris)
