Roberto De Zerbi believes Brighton did enough to claim all three points against West Ham United.

Hammers’ keeper Alphonse Areola made several fine saves in the goalless draw at the London Stadium, Albion’s first Premier League 0-0 since October 2022.

De Zerbi said, “I’m really pleased with the performance. We made a clean sheet so the journalists are happy! – and I think we played a great game and we deserved to win.

“The best quality of West Ham is their counter-attack and we were focused not to concede goals from counter-attacks. We had eight clear chances to score and I am pleased with the understanding of the way we wanted to play. It was an amazing game, one of the best in my time. We played a smart game with a clear idea, we didn’t take any risk in our build-up.

“We made some mistake in the last pass, shot, assist or cross and the [West Ham] keeper played another great game, but I was delighted with the performance. We have a lot of injured players but we showed great spirit and character.”

De Zerbi confirmed that Adam Webster, who was making his first appearance since 12 November, came off with cramp 13 minutes from time.