Thilo Kehrer's late lunge marred full West Ham debut as Brighton defeat highlights goal concerns

West Ham United sit bottom of the Premier League table following a 2-0 defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion at the London Stadium on Sunday.

The Hammers fell behind in the first half when Alexis Mac Allister converted from the penalty spot after Thilo Kehrer fouled Danny Welbeck in the penalty box. The Seagulls secured victory in the second half through Leandro Trossard.

David Moyes’ side are now rock-bottom of the league standings after their first three games, still without a goal or a point in this season’s Premier League.

Here are the talking points from a defeat that leaves the Irons with their first season of three straight league defeats from their opening three games since the 2018/19 campaign.

The search for the first points of the season continues, as does the search for a first league goal of the season as Brighton joined Manchester City and Nottingham Forest on the list of teams who have so far gotten the better of the Hammers this term.

There are plenty of similarities in how the game panned out to that of the 2-0 defeat at home to City 15 days ago. A bright spell, a sucker punch of a penalty to concede, individual errors and conceding a second on the counter when the Hammers had slowly made in-roads to getting a way back into the game.

However, unlike the defeat to City, the Hammers had more than enough of the ball and attacking play, especially early on, to go ahead in the game. Had it not been for lack of guilt-edge quality from the likes of Said Benrahma, Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen, the Hammers could have found themselves ahead before Welbeck winning a penalty in the first half.

Just like the defeat to Forest, the Hammers now will look for a win over Viborg ahead of facing Aston Villa and hope that