Ogbonna laments a game too far over Christmas as Hammers run out of puff

FOR divorced, beheaded, died; read injured, AFCON, tired.

- Malik Ouzia

Just as the mnemonic has schoolchildren across the country reeling off the fates of Henry VIII's six wives by heart, so too the act of scrolling through a Premier League squad list to tick off the absentees is becoming second nature.

Another night of football to round off the festive period brought further unnecessary evidence there is simply too much of this stuff; another set of line-ups more notable for those who were missing rather than playing, and their expanding repertoire of alibis.

At the London Stadium, a visibly fatigued West Ham clung on to earn the goalless draw which keeps them sixth against a depleted Brighton in what looked a game too far for both.

It came at the end of an attritional run, the first half of the campaign spent competing on home and European fronts without the same squad depth as the top-flight's loftiest elite.

Brighton's solution, often, has been to turn to youth; David Moyes's to rely on a core of senior players that, until a week or two ago, had enjoyed a remarkably clean bill of health.