Brighton & Hove Albion kept their first clean sheet in 24 Premier League matches on Tuesday night, as they drew 0-0 to West Ham at the London Stadium. Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke played the entire match for his side and delivered a solid individual performance for the Seagulls. Afterwards the 23-year-old received compliments from his manager Roberto De Zerbi.
‘He is improving in an incredible way,’ De Zerbi told the media after Tuesday night’s clash. ‘He’s actually older than his age. His level is high, higher than people think.’ Jan Paul van Hecke recently put pen to paper on a new deal at the Amex, valid until the summer of 2027. The former Heerenveen and Blackburn Rovers defender is excelling this season, having featured 21 times across all competitions already.
Brighton are currently missing the likes of Kaoru Mitoma, Simon Adingra, Ansu Fati, Solly March, Joel Veltman and Tariq Lamptey all through injury. Even with the long injury list, they’ve still been picking up points having lost just one of their last five games. De Zerbi’s side are currently seventh in the Premier league table on 31 points.
