West Ham and Brighton entered their second Europa League matches of the group stage with differing levels of pressure and expectation.
The Irons had already secured three points on Matchday 1 and knew they were facing their trickiest fixture of the group stage: away to Bundesliga regulars Freiburg.
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Brighton, meanwhile, failed to get a point from AEK Athens at the Amex Stadium to start their group stage and were feeling a bit of desperation for at least a point as they entered the Stade Velodrome as relative underdogs against Marseille.
Both Premier League clubs will be happy with how they emerged from Thursday’s matches, and that’s especially true given the way the day started for the Seagulls in France.
Check out the video highlights from West Ham’s 2-1 win at Freiburg and Brighton’s 2-2 comeback draw at Marseille, below.
Freiburg 1-2 West Ham: Aguerd powers home winner
The only thing David Moyes likes better than a goal headed in from a driving cross is goal thudded home off a set piece, and the Irons used both to secure three points in Germany.
Jarrod Bowen completed a full-field team move when he swept a cross from the right that Lucas Paqueta turned inside the near post to put West Ham up 1-0 at Stade Europa Park (that venue name turned out appropriately, didn’t it?).
Hungarian star Roland Sallai got Freiburg level despite two-straight saves from Lukasz Fabianski, belting his bid over the prone keeper, but West Ham got the last laugh.
James Ward-Prowse’s set-piece service was on point as Nayef Aguerd rose up with power to pound the winner past Noah Atubolu in the 66th minute.
The lead held up, as West Ham won a very even affair to move onto six points. Two matches with Olympiacos are next.
Marseille 2-2 Brighton: Seagulls dig out of 2-goal hole
Roberto De Zerbi would’ve been close to wits end when a pair of former Premier League players — Jordan Veretout and Chancel Mbemba — scored one minute apart to put Marseille up 2-0 after just 20 minutes.
His Brighton, after all, had lost three of four matches across all competitions and the most recent setback was a six-goal pounding at the hands of Aston Villa.
The Seagulls, however, found their footing over the final 20 minutes with Pascal Gross finishing off a Kaoru Mitoma comeback before Joao Pedro converted an 88th-minute penalty to grab a point for the table.
Brighton now gets back-to-back matches with Ajax, which promise entertainment but also demand the Seagulls score at least one win after Ajax drew AEK in Athens on Thursday.
Cool, calm and collected from João Pedro.
Brighton overcome a 2-0 deficit to bring the noise in the Velodrome. ️ pic.twitter.com/UloEgNAjeT
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 5, 2023
