A late header from West Ham’s Tomas Soucek rescued a point for them after a poor first-half display against Brighton.
The home side came from behind twice to seal a draw after an impressive showing from the visitors.
The draw extends West Ham’s winless run against the Seagulls to seven games since Brighton’s promotion to the Premier League back in 2017.
Club legend Mark Noble retained his place in the starting XI for the first time this season, while young full back Ben Johnson replaced Pablo Fornals after last week’s defeat at Chelsea.
Brighton also made several changes to the team that faced Fulham on Wednesday with Dan Burn and Neal Maupay replacing the injured Tariq Lamptey and Steven Alzate.
The visitors started the game well with the opening chance coming after 17 minutes when winger Solly March whipped in an inviting cross for striker Danny Welbeck, who failed to make contact with the ball after a tussle with Angelo Ogbonna.
Just after the half hour mark Brighton’s highly-rated midfielder Yves Bissouma floated a brilliant pass over the top of the West Ham backline, but March’s shot from a tight angle was unable to trouble Lukasz Fabianksi.
Minutes before half-time Maupay capitalised on the Hammers’ poor defensive organisation as Declan Rice failed to clear Burn’s cross, with the French forward poking home from close range.
The goal was Maupay’s fifth in the Premier League this season after failing to score in his previous nine appearances for the Seagulls.
A much-needed double change from David Moyes at half-time saw Manuel Lanzini and Andriy Yarmolenko replace an off-pace Jarrod Bowen and ineffective Mark Noble.
After a good start to the second half, the West Ham substitutes combined teeing up Ben Johnson for the 20-year-old’s first senior goal after 13 years with the east London club.
Just 10 minutes later a quick Brighton corner caught West Ham napping as Lewis Dunk smashed the ball in from close range.
The goal was checked by VAR for a potential Dunk handball prior to the finish, but the officials failed to find conclusive evidence and Brighton gained the lead for the second time in the match.
A much improved second-half performance from the home side was rewarded in the 82nd minute, when Soucek nodded home his fourth Premier League goal of the season from Aaron Cresswell’s corner.
It was West Ham’s 10th set-piece goal of the season with David Moyes’ side seemingly struggling to find the net from open play in recent weeks.
After just one win in their last five games the Hammers will look to upset an inform Southampton side on Tuesday night, while Brighton face Arsenal on the same night with the Gunners sitting just one place above them in the table.
By Fraser Day
