James Milner ‘disappointed’ with West Ham United stalemate, Hammers boss David Moyes ‘thrilled’ with point

Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder James Milner was “disappointed” to come away from the London Stadium with a draw on Tuesday.

The Seagulls’ trip to West Ham finished goalless as The Hammers ended a run of 101 home matches without a 0-0 draw, while Brighton gained their first clean sheet of the season.

Milner, who tied Ryan Giggs for the second-most Premier League appearances of all-time with 632, felt his side deserved to come away from east London with more than a point.

“I think we’re disappointed from our point of view,” Milner told Sky Sports. “I think we controlled the game, especially [in the] second half, created enough chances.

“[We] didn’t quite get the goal, we haven’t had a clean sheet all year but we managed to get one today, we can’t put the ball in the other net.

“That was disappointing but I thought it was a solid performance, especially with some of the boys coming back who haven’t had too much football. Pervis [Estupinan] and Webby [Adam Webster] especially, coming in to do the job they did, I thought they were outstanding.”

Despite the frustrating result for injury-hit Brighton, Milner looked ahead with optimism and in particular, cherished the long-awaited clean sheet.

“We definitely created enough chances to win the game,” Milner added. “There’s plenty of positives to take, but ultimately we came here for the three points and we didn’t quite get it.

“That’s disappointing but hopefully we can build on that clean sheet for the new year and a few more clean sheets will help with the firepower up front, I like to think we’ll score more.”

In the opposite dugout, Hammers boss Moyes was delighted to come away from the match with a point, as West Ham stretched their unbeaten run of Premier League games to four.

“I’m thrilled with the result, I’m thrilled with the point. I think Brighton played very well and were the better team in the second half,” Moyed conceded after the game.

“They had a few chances and our goalkeeper made some very good saves. I don’t know if we might have had the best chance of the game from Thomas Soucek and when it didn’t go in, I was saying to myself ‘Oh here we go, I’m going to have to find a way of probably getting a nil’.

“Thankfully the players did a great job of getting that.”

West Ham came into the game fresh from a stunning 2-0 win against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium, where Soucek and former Gunner Konstantinos Mavropanos were on target for a valuable three points.

With Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma absent, Mavropanos is one of the centre-backs enjoying a rare run of games in the team and has contributed to a third consecutive clean sheet in the Premier League.

“When you’re playing really good teams which we do and we have done, especially over this Christmas period, we’ve had to be really compact defensively,” Moyes said of his makeshift defence. “[To keep] as organised as we can be and try to keep the opposition out.

“Tonight we lacked the quality which might make the difference at the other end of the pitch when we had the ball but again, we’re playing two centre-halves who have not been playing recently, a right-back who hasn’t played recently.

“I thought the boys at the back have done a brilliant job in the last two games. Tonight, again, they did a good job, defended the box well, they did what they had to do.”

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