Jarrod Bowen on fire, but 2/10 teammate undoes all his brilliant work – West Ham player ratings vs Brighton
West Ham will be kicking themselves over dropping yet more points in their bid to win Premier League survival with their 2-2 draw with Brighton on Tuesday night.
Nuno Espirito Santo, who is facing increased pressure to avoid being sacked for a second time this season, saw his side go ahead twice at the London Stadium, with Brighton making the most of calamitous defending to earn themselves a point on their travels.
Jarrod Bowen opened the scoring against the run of play in the 10th minute after latching onto a clever through-ball by Lucas Paqueta.
However, Danny Welbeck equalised from the spot in the 32nd minute after Max Kilman clumsily brought down Yankuba Minteh in the box.
Minutes later, Paqueta wrestled Lewis Dunk to the ground to concede a second spot-kick, which was then missed by Welbeck, who hit the crossbar while attempting a Panenka penalty.
Keith Hackett is expecting the FA to charge West Ham and Brighton for a mass confrontation that emerged after Welbeck’s missed penalty, but then the Irons got a reprieve of their own right before the break.
VAR helped Michael Salisbury to award West Ham a spot-kick, which was converted by Paqueta, only for Joel Veltman to equalise and make it 2-2 in the 61st minute from a corner-kick.
Jarrod Bowen – Man of the match
There was only really going to be one choice when it came to picking West Ham‘s man of the match against Brighton.
Bowen’s 10th-minute goal means he’s level with Michail Antonio for goal involvements for the Hammers in the Premier League, and also seven goals away from becoming the club’s top Premier League goalscorer of all time.
| Goals | Assists | Total | |
| Jarrod Bowen | 62 | 39 | 101 |
| Michail Antonio | 68 | 33 | 101 |
| Mark Noble | 47 | 35 | 82 |
| Paolo Di Canio | 47 | 31 | 78 |
| Trevor Sinclair | 37 | 25 | 62 |
He took his goal brilliantly after a clever through-ball by Paqueta, who probably would have given Bowen more competition for the man of the match award if it wasn’t for his brainless foul on Dunk to concede the second penalty.
Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa also had solid games for the Hammers, but Bowen was electric once again.
If anyone is going to keep the Irons afloat this season, it’ll be him, and he gets an 8/10 for his display against Brighton in the final game of 2025.
Max Kilman might as well have worn blue and white stripes
Kilman is somehow getting worse and worse.
He was extremely lucky not to have been sent off, having already conceded a penalty for a foul on Yankuba Minteh, for which he escaped a booking.
Not long after, he clattered into Minteh, leading to Salisbury brandishing a yellow card.
Veltman’s goal in the 61st minute came from – surprise, surprise – a corner kick, with Kilman pretty much working against Alphonse Areola in trying to keep the ball from going into the net.
It’s not the first time Kilman has had a shocker for the Hammers, and it certainly won’t be the last.
He’s a complete and utter liability, and scores a horrific 2/10 in our player ratings.
West Ham’s player ratings in 2-2 draw vs Brighton
- Alphonse Areola – 5
- Kyle Walker-Peters – 5
- Jean-Clair Todibo – 5
- Maximilian Kilman – 2
- Ollie Scarles – 7
- Freddie Potts – 5
- Mateus Fernandes – 7
- Soungoutou Magassa – 7
- Jarrod Bowen – 8
- Lucas Paqueta – 7
- Callum Wilson – 6
Substitutes:
- Konstantinos Mavropanos (on for Todibo, ’45+3) – 5
- Crysencio Summerville (on for Wilson, ’63) – 5
- Tomas Soucek – (on for Magassa, ’82) – N/A
- Ezra Mayers – (on for Walker-Peters, ’83) – N/A
- Mahamadou Kante – (on for Paqueta, ’83) – N/A
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