Brighton 3-1 Bournemouth: Seagulls return to winning ways after Europa League defeat, as Kaoru Mitoma inspires comeback
WELCOME to the Thursday-Sunday Club, Brighton – with VIP access going to Kaoru Mitoma following a sizzling second-half cameo.
Two goals from the livewire Japanese winger – including one just 15 SECONDS into the second half – continued Brighton’s best-ever start to a Premier League season.
For the first time in their history, the Seagulls have won five of their opening six matches in top-flight football.
It is a result that also provides enormous relief to manager Roberto De Zerbi, who has expressed his stress at having to juggle domestic duties with an inaugural continental campaign.
Many clubs have struggled in recent years combining European football on a Thursday night, particularly when there are flights involved, and then Prem combat on the Sabbath.
But this win over hard-working Bournemouth sees Brighton maintain their excellent beginning, bumping them up to third spot in the table.
Following the 3-2 home defeat to AEK Athens last Thursday – the club’s first-ever tie in European competition – De Zerbi warned that he would have to ring the changes.
True to his word, the Italian chief made nine alterations for the arrival of the Cherries with only Billy Gilmour and Pervis Estupinan surviving from the starting XI that played against the Greek champions
One of the biggest selection decisions saw De Zerbi drop goalkeeper Jason Steele to the substitutes’ bench and replace him with Bart Verbruggen for his just third Premier League appearance.
Yet the novice Dutchman looked like he was wearing clogs on 25 minutes when his calamity led to the opening goal.
Twice before, the 21-year-old summer recruit had slowly walked out of penalty area with the ball at his feet and no member of the opposing front line had bothered to press him.
Well, the third time he tried to play like a sweeper keeper, encroaching more than 22 yards from his goal, it proved to be his undoing.
On this occasion, he simply took one touch too many and when the alert Ryan Christie went for the block, the ball ricocheted to Dominic Solanke, who had the easy task of curling his effort into an empty net.
Red faces all round in the Brighton defence, none more so than the former Anderlecht stopper, with the streak without a clean sheet in all competitions now stretching to 11 matches.
Maybe sometimes a good old fashioned, route-one lump down the middle would suffice – but cerebral coaches don’t exactly want their sides to play like that these days.
In first-half stoppage-time, Milos Kerkez was the next person to have his head in his hands when his name was added to the scoresheet for an own goal.
The Hungarian teenager had the final yet decisive touch as a cross from the impressive Billy Gilmour floated off his bonce and beyond Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto for the equaliser.
Conceding a goal at the start of any half is almost unforgivable in professional football – it shows that one side has yet to set properly and minds are not concentrated.
That is what happened to Bournemouth as substitute Mitoma – a replacement for Facundo Buonanotte – scored freakishly quick after the restart of the second half.
Benefiting from a cute flick by Mahmoud Dahoud, the Asian winger wriggled his way through the defence and slipped his pass into the goal.
The fast-paced move, which began with a Bournemouth kick-off, also involved another sub, on-loan Barcelona midfielder Ansu Fati, of whom much is expected this season.
That is, of course, if you ignore the horrible miss he had just before the hour mark when his connection to a cross, having run into an unmarked position, almost hit the corner flag.
Mitoma, however, ensured he would have the final word of this clash on 77 minutes when he scored with a neat header from six yards out after terrible defending from the visitors.
Bournemouth may argue that they were denied the odd penalty here or there for handball by Michael Oliver in the VAR booth and Lewis Dunk was in the right place on 78 minutes to clear the ball off the Brighton goal line.
Yet for Bournemouth, this represented a TENTH Prem match in a row without a victory – a club record that new boss Andoni Iraola would not have wanted when he arrived a few months ago.
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