Moyes slept on decision to start Kehrer, but admits he wasn't ready 

West Ham United's Thilo Kehrer. Photo credit: Nigel French/PA Wire.

MANAGER David Moyes revealed he had to sleep on a decision to start West Ham’s new signing Thilo Kehrer – only for his new star signing to give away the match-defining penalty on his Premier League debut.

The West Ham manager's gamble back fired as it resulted in a third loss from their opening three Premier League games – without a single goal to their name this season.

Brighton maintained their promising unbeaten start with an Alexis Mac Allister’s penalty and Leandro Trossard also on target as they both recorded their first strikes for Graham Potter's new look side.

Kehrer made his Premier League debut and gave away the penalty that put Brighton in front after 22 minutes.

West Ham rarely looked like getting back into the game and were in no position to respond again when Trossard doubled Brighton's lead with 66 minutes gone. 

“The penalty kick was the turning point after we had started the game ok. We got ourselves back into the game until they got the second. That is is first game in Premier League so we have to give him some time.

“I slept on starting him overnight because I don’t think he was ready to start the game. He certainly wasn’t if you’re talking about physically wise, but I felt like the last couple of games had not gone so well with us not winning. I felt that we’d put in someone who was a much more recognized defender and international player.” Moyes insisted he was not overly concerned by his side's poor start and added: “To say alarm bells are ringing I think is too strong.

“I think the thing you need to think about is we finished seventh and we finished sixth before this season, so we will take positives from that.

“Let’s be fair, this club has been around these positions for a long time. I need to get them away from that position and make sure we don’t slide towards that.

“We’re well aware that we haven’t been scoring or being as free flowing as we have been previously. I can’t just put that down to any of the goal scorers.” Meanwhile Brighton are up to seven points and coach Graham Potter singled out Trossard’s performance.

He explained: “If you see his goal record and what he gave us, he’s playing a role with a big responsibility.

“He defends for the team when he has to and contributes to our play. He’s a forward and an attacking player so to assist and score is important to him and for us. I thought he was really good.” Brighton could have won by a bigger margin with Solly March heading over from a great position.

Potter, however, was not complaining and added: “That was a chance to kill the game. Three nil would have made it a lot more comfortable for me on the side. It was not the easiest chance in the world in fairness, it’s come across with speed.

“I was delighted with Solly’s performance overall, I thought he was fantastic. He was a threat, it was a really responsible performance from him, so I’m not going to complain about winning 2-0.” 

Both sides now have midweek Conference League and Carabao Cup duties before West Ham face Aston Villa, and Brighton host Leeds this weekend.

WEST HAM 4-2-3-1: Fabianski 6, Cresswell 5, Kehrer 5, Zouma 6, Coufal 6 (Johnson 75), Soucek 6, Rice 6, Fornals 6 (Scamacca 62), Bowen 6, Antonio 5 (Cornet 75), Benrahma 7 (Lanzini 75) 

BRIGHTON 3-4-2-1: Sanchez 8, Webster 8, Dunk 8, Veltman 8, Trossard 8 (Mitoma 92) , Caicedo 7, Mac Allister 8, March 7 (Mwepo 85), Gross 7, Lallana 7 (Estupinan 63), Welbeck 7 

Referee: Anthony Taylor 7/10