Yalla Shoot :Brighton & Hove Albion 1-3 West Ham United: James Ward-Prowse scores first goal for Hammers

West Ham United continued their unbeaten Premier League start by stunning Brighton with a clinical counter-attacking display as James Ward-Prowse scored his first Hammers goal.

Ward-Prowse opened the scoring when he tapped in from two yards out in the 19th minute after good work from Michail Antonio.

Jarrod Bowen added a second for the visitors in the 58th minute, bringing down Said Benrahma’s cross before poking the ball into the corner.

And though Brighton continually dominated possession and territory, Bowen set up Antonio to drill a shot into the corner for the away side’s third in the 63rd minute.

The Seagulls scored a late consolation goal when Pascal Gross’ drive effort found the far corner, but David Moyes’ men survived a late surge of Brighton pressure to on to victory.

Ward-Prowse drives ruthless West Ham

West Ham have made an excellent start, backing up their win over Chelsea last weekend with a ruthless display in Sussex.

Incredibly, the visitors’ 31 successful passes in the first half was the lowest total reached by a Premier League side since November 2006, when Watford had 30 against Portsmouth.

But they still went ahead through Ward-Prowse, who bundled Antonio’s cross over the line after Lewis Dunk was caught in possession.

It was Ward-Prowse’s third goal involvement in just his second game for the Hammers having joined from boyhood club Southampton this summer for around £30m.

As Brighton pushed after the restart West Ham exploited the space their players left behind, and Bowen brilliantly controlled Benrahma’s cross-field ball in a counter-attack before finding the bottom corner.

Five minutes later the three points were wrapped up thanks to Antonio’s fine finish after creating space for himself. The Jamaica international almost added a fourth in the closing stages but prodded a shot over when through on goal.

Ward-Prowse also had a chance to add a fourth late on, but his shot from a tight-angle was saved before the rebound off a Brighton defender hit the cross bar.

Brighton lack ruthless touch

Brighton finished the match with 79% of possession but, despite scoring four goals in each of their last two matches, initially struggled to trouble West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola.

Their best chance at finding a way back into the game came just after the restart when Areola dived to his right to keep out an Evan Ferguson header with Brighton one goal down.

The Seagulls rallied after going three down and scored in the 81st minute as Gross’ driven shot from the edge of the box found the bottom corner.

That sparked a flurry of chances for Roberto De Zerbi’s men, with Joel Veltman’s volley forcing a fine save from Areola and the hosts having a penalty shout turned down after the ball was deemed to have accidentally struck West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal’s arm in the box.

In injury time Ferguson blasted a fierce shot which was only just tipped on to the bar by Areola, but by that stage defeat was inevitable and Brighton fell to their first loss to West Ham in 13 Premier League matches.