Paqueta and Ward-Prowse abysmal, 7/10 best of the lot – West Ham ratings v Brighton
West Ham threw away the lead to lose 3-2 to Brighton despite Mohammed Kudus shining on the South Coast.
Graham Potter’s side have won just three of his 15 matches in the dugout since he replaced Julen Lopetegui in January.
It looked like that would continue as they went down in the first half to a wonderstrike from Yasin Ayari after Lucas Paqueta had given the Seagulls star far too much space.
However, the Ghanaian winger was on hand to equalise in the early stages of the second half to rescue a point and notch his fourth league goal of the campaign.
The hosts had chances to retake the lead but Tomas Soucek eventually found the net from Jarrod Bowen’s cross to give the Hammers the advantage, though they could not hold on for victory as Kaoru Mitoma levelled late on.
It was even worse in stoppage time as Carlos Baleba curled in a late winner for the Seagulls.
Here, West Ham Zone rates the players out of 10 at the AMEX Stadium.
West Ham throw away points v Brighton
Alphonse Areola – 5
Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 7
Jean-Clair Todibo – 5
Konstantinos Mavropanos – 5
Max Kilman – 6
Emerson – 5 (off for Coufal, 86)
Tomas Soucek – 6
James Ward-Prowse – 4 (off for Fullkrug, 45)
Lucas Paqueta – 5
Jarrod Bowen – 7
Mohammed Kudus – 7
Substitutes:
Niclas Fullkrug – 5 (on for Ward-Prowse, 45)
Vladimir Coufal – N/A (on for Emerson, 86)
Ward-Prowse struggles in West Ham loss
The Hammers were losing at the break and Potter needed to do something drastic to change his side’s fortunes.
He did just that, taking Ward-Prowse off for Niclas Fullkrug and the Irons equalised just three minutes after the interval, justifying the change.
The former Nottingham Forest man has impressed since returning to the London Stadium but he struggled to impact proceedings on this occasion.
The 30-year-old created just one chance and had just one shot when he tried to take the Hammers forward in a miserable performance.
| Stats | Ward-Prowse v Brighton |
| Chances created | 1 |
| Shots | 1 |
| Tackles won | 0/1 (0%) |
| Ground duels | 1/4 (25%) |
He was also poor defensively, failing to complete a tackle and winning just one of four ground duels that he attempted, for a 25 per cent success rate.
Potter is set to overhaul his squad in the summer transfer window and if he wants to stick around, the ex-Southampton star needs to perform to a higher standard than what he did against the Seagulls, otherwise, he may end up on the chopping block.