Ed Aarons was at Carrow Road as Brighton all but ensured their Premier League survival. Here’s his verdict. Click to enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Stay healthy!
A very happy Graham Potter’s verdict. “It’s one of those days when the result is the most important thing. To get three points and a clean sheet you need a little luck, and we had it at the end with the post. But we’re absolutely delighted. We’ve got five more games to go, and we’re still fighting for the points. This is a unique season and what has happened in the past [36 points has been enough to ensure survival in each of the last three seasons] we can’t take too much from that. But 36 is a decent number, though we need more. I’m so pleased for the boys.”
FULL TIME: Norwich City 0-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
A huge three points for Brighton, who are surely safe for another year. Norwich aren’t mathematically kaput yet, but it’s really not looking good now. A deserved win for Brighton, even if they were hanging on a bit at the end, and enjoyed a huge slice of good fortune when Idah’s header hit the post. They were the better team for the most part.
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90 min +5: A heading chance for Cantwell, in a pocket of space on the penalty spot. He floats it harmlessly wide right. That could be Norwich’s last chance.
90 min +4: Brighton breathe a huge sigh of relief, then run down the clock by replacing Lamptey with Duffy.
90 min +3: Norwich come within inches of equalising! Buendia curls in from a deep position on the left. Idah rises highest and flicks a header past Ryan ... but off the inside of the right-hand post! The ball bounces along the line, then is belted away by Burn!
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90 min +2: Buendia waltzes in from the right and has a belt that’s immediately blocked by Webster.
90 min +1: The first of six added minutes floats by without incident ... or, indeed, a booking.
90 min: Now Cantwell goes in the book for a fairly crude lunge on Lamptey. He hasn’t got grounds for complaint, but makes one anyway.
89 min: Gross has been booked as well, for some infringement of the laws, no doubt.
88 min: Lamptey is booked for faffing around over a throw.
86 min: McLean is pestered by Maupay in the centre circle, and briefly considers losing the rag. But just before the commencement of the throwing of hands, McLean’s temperature drops and instead we play on.
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85 min: Buendia bustles towards the Brighton box but is soon surrounded. If Norwich are going to grab an equaliser, you’d think he’ll be involved somehow.
83 min: Pukki looks to release Idah down the middle, but Dunk steps in to intercept just in the nick of time.
81 min: It’s gone very bitty in the wake of that Six Nations-style slew of substitutions. Brighton will be happy enough with that, as the world continues to turn.
79 min: A double-change for Brighton: Stephens and Mac Allister come on for Bissouma and the goalscorer Williams Trossard.
78 min: Norwich sub: Tettey off, Vrancic on.
77 min: Bissouma has an opportunity to shoot, just to the right of the D, but decides against it. Bernardo has a thump from a less promising position, and his effort is easily blocked.
76 min: Buendia throws a free kick into the Brighton box from the right, hoping to sow confusion. Brighton deal with it easily enough.
74 min: It’s mainly Norwich now, Brighton deploying another defensive player and hoping to soak up whatever Cantwell, Idah and Pukki can throw at them.
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72 min: Brighton make their first swaps. Mooy and Connolly are replaced by Gross and Bernardo.
71 min: Norwich pin Brighton back for the first time in a while. Cantwell nearly sashays through the defence, then Buendia whips a low ball across the face of goal from the left. There’s nobody to run it home, not for the first time this afternoon. Despite being second best for the most part, Norwich have created a couple of chances today, but nobody’s been on hand to take advantage.
69 min: Bissouma glides in from the left and unleashes a fierce, swerving, rising shot that Krul can only punch clear in a very uncertain style. That could easily have pinged off the keeper’s gloves and in, but he does enough. That was a proper piledriver.
67 min: That’s drinks, and an opportunity for Norwich to replace their entire front three. Duda, Drmic and Hernandez make way for Cantwell, Idah and Pukki.
65 min: Drmic clumps an ambitious shot straight at Ryan. A hail-mary effort made in the knowledge that he’s about to get the hook.
64 min: Propper slides a ball down the inside-right channel to release Lamptey into the Norwich box. Lamptey can’t quite sort his feet out to shoot, then decides to go down having clipped Hernandez’s knee. Brighton want a penalty, but there’s not enough contact to interest either ref or VAR, and Lamptey’s inelegant fall probably didn’t help.
62 min: Trossard and Maupay flick the ball down the left, the goalscorer eventually bursting into the box and dinking a cross straight into the arms of Krul. Overly intricate. Nothing’s quite coming off.
60 min: Propper drops a shoulder and has a crack from the edge of the box. It’s deflected out for a corner, which Mooy wastes. Another goal can’t be long in coming.
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59 min: Lewis has clearly decided that he’s not going down without a fight. Another fine run down the left earns a free kick. Norwich load the box, but Buendia’s delivery isn’t good, straight down the throat of Ryan, an easy claim. Better from the hosts, though.
57 min: Lewis drops a shoulder to vex Mooy out on the left. It’s a splendid trick, and the following low whipped cross that fizzes through the six-yard box is even better. But there’s nobody in yellow anticipating or taking a gamble. Lewis should be celebrating an assist there.
56 min: Finally, a decent spell of Norwich probing. They ping it this way and that. Finally Buendia peals a shot goalwards from the edge of the box. Dunk takes one for the team, right in the gut. Norwich claim a penalty, but they’re not getting one.
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54 min: Mooy has the ball just inside the Norwich box, on the left. If anything, he’s got too many options: Maupay and Trossard in close attendance, plus space for a shot. He can’t decide, and Aarons eventually purchases an extremely cheap free kick when the ball’s inaccurately passed to Trossard. Brighton are well on top, but they can’t afford to pass up too many opportunities like this.
53 min: Nothing comes of the corner. But Brighton have quickly re-established control. By comparison, Norwich are offering absolutely nothing.
52 min: Lamptey takes a cute touch to cut in from the right and drive Brighton forward. Bissouma takes over, neatly dribbling down the wing and winning a corner.
50 min: A free kick for Brighton out on the left, and a chance to load the box. Mooy takes, and sends long. Burn rises highest at the far post. He can’t connect with a header, but the ball pings off his back and nearly nestles into the top right. It’s inches wide. It would have been a messy finish all right, but what a delivery by Mooy. Almost impossible to defend.
49 min: Connolly drifts in from the left and looks to send a curler into the top right. His effort was heading in, but Klose reads the danger and bravely blocks.
48 min: Buendia wriggles into enough space for a shot from the edge of the Brighton box, but falls as he takes it, and the ball dribbles through to Ryan.
47 min: No early second-half surge from the hosts. Lewis has a look down the left but his cross is cleared easily by Burn.
And we’re off again! Norwich get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes. Meanwhile before the action picks up once more, here’s Marlon Cameron, taking the opportunity to sing while Brighton are winning. “My girlfriend just commented that, as the season goes on, Trossard looks more and more like Robbie Williams circa 1996.” She’s not wrong, is she.
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Half-time reading. Here’s Paul Doyle on the travails of Leicester City, who have never looked the same since getting thumped by Liverpool on Boxing Day.
HALF TIME: Norwich 0-1 Brighton
That’s the end of a half in which Norwich started brightly, only to fall away alarmingly as Brighton scored, then assumed control. The visitors deserve their lead, as they begin to sense Premier League survival. Can Norwich react? A defeat here would nudge them ever closer to the Championship.
45 min: This nearly cheered him up, though. Buendia busies himself in the D of the Brighton box, draws a few players, then slips a clever pass down the inside-left channel to find Hernandez. The winger drops a shoulder, shifts his feet, and snaps a shot goalwards, but it’s blocked by Mooy and spins up harmlessly into the arms of Ryan.
44 min: Drmic and Duda try to combine down the inside-right channel, but the ball harmlessly squirts out of play for a goal kick. On the touchline, Daniel Farke looks thoroughly miserable, with a hint of concern washing across his coupon.
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43 min: Norwich ping it around the middle, but can’t make further headway, and soon enough possession is given up. Mooy curls in from the right but there’s nobody in the middle to take advantage of a trouble-making pass.
41 min: Brighton are in total control now. Maupay senses blood and cuts in from the left again, but is crowded out on the edge of the box. Norwich need to hear the half-time whistle, because Brighton are pressing hard for a second goal.
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39 min: Brighton are beginning to turn it on. A gorgeous Connolly flick sends Maupay tearing infield from the left. Maupay, who has Mooy free to his left, instead slips Lamptey into the box on the right, then gets the ball back, but stumbles over his shot. For a second, Brighton were streaming forward en masse in a very eye-catching style.
38 min: Lewis is booked for cynically blocking Lamptey, who was working his way down the right.
37 min: More space for Mooy down the right. He loops long, the ball dropping towards Trossard, who should volley first time for goal from close range, but opts to cushion a pass towards Connolly instead. A very good chance is gone.
35 min: Norwich continue to huff and puff, without much in the way of end product. Brighton are comfortable.
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33 min: Hernandez wriggles in from the left and works space to shoot, but drags his effort well wide left. Still, he’s been Norwich’s star turn so far, the man most likely.
32 min: Lewis fires a backpass towards Krul at a fascinating velocity. The keeper does extremely well to kill the ball dead without anything embarrassing happening.
30 min: Norwich were looking extremely assured before the Brighton goal. Now, uncertainty reigns. Such are the vicissitudes of a side bound for relegation.
28 min: Lamptey comes again, crossing low from the right this time. Connolly nearly meets the ball on the penalty spot, but Norwich manage to scramble clear. The hosts go up the other end, Tettey taking a whack from distance, but his effort is quickly blocked. Good game, this.
27 min: Brighton are on the front foot now. Lamptey makes his way down the right and swings a dangerous cross towards the far post, but none of his team-mates have read his intention.
GOAL! Norwich 0-1 Brighton (Trossard 25)
Freshly fuelled, immediately after the restart, Brighton score a marvellous goal on the counter! Norwich ship possession. Maupay slips a ball down the right for Mooy, who romps into acres of space and curls low into the centre. Trossard attacks at the near post, steering the ball across a wrong-footed Krul and into the bottom left. What a delicious finish!
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23 min: And that’s drinks!
21 min: Propper slides a pass down the inside-left channel, hoping to release Trossard into the Norwich box. Trossard goes down looking for a penalty, having lightly brushed Aarons. The referee is, quite correctly, not in the least bit interested.
19 min: So having said that, Hernandez immediately skitters in from the right and lashes a fine rising shot inches over the bar. That would have been a screamer. The Cuban winger looks in the mood.
18 min: Brighton continue with the sterile possession. Right now, it’s proving successful in quelling Norwich’s early verve.
16 min: Norwich have enjoyed the lion’s share of possession so far, but Brighton seem happy enough. They knock it around the back some more, without too much urgency. On the touchline, Graham Potter applauds some encouragement. “As a Stoke supporter I can only look at Potter and wish he’d taken the job with his namesake team,” writes Joshua Reynolds. “Not only would it have been pleasant linguistically, he might have steered us in a better direction.”
14 min: Ryan mixes it up by launching long down the middle. Connolly nearly gets onto the pass, but Klose holds his line, intercepts and clears. We’re not quite in the realms of entertainment yet, but this match is promising.
12 min: Hernandez dribbles hard, in from the left, and attempts a low curler towards the bottom right. It’s heading in, but Dunk sticks out a leg to block. That was a lovely run, nixed by some similarly fine defending.
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11 min: A period of Brighton possession now. All in their own half, very patient. Two teams who like to stroke it around.
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9 min: Norwich draw some triangles down the left, Lewis, Hernandez and Buendia looking confident and fluid. Not that they go anywhere in particular, Lewis’s eventual cross to nobody in particular and easily cleared, but it was all very pretty.
7 min: Trossard snuffs out a Norwich attack by intercepting and dribbling around in his own box. It’s impressively calm play, though when he eventually lays off to Webster, the defender blooters upfield in the no-nonsense style. A fair chance Webster was informing his team-mate which approach is more effective.
5 min: Norwich launch their first sortie into enemy territory. Duda sprays a diagonal ball towards Aarons out on the right. Aarons tries to open up Brighton by one-twoing with Buendia, but the move doesn’t quite come off. Both teams have started in positive fashion.
3 min: A free kick for Brighton out on the right. Mooy floats it in. Klose should clear easily but his unchallenged header only finds Connolly, just inside the box to the left. Connolly rasps a drive over the bar. A decent enough effort, though he’ll be disappointed he didn’t make Krul work at the very least.
Brighton get the ball rolling. They stroke it around the back for a bit. A quiet start. Perhaps they’re aware that Brisbane-based Phil Withall has gone to bed. “As an Norwich supporter with a normally excessively optimistic outlook I’d like to give you an idea of how I see things. The match kicks off at 9.30 pm and will finish at about 11.15. I need to get up for work at 4.30 tomorrow morning. Normally this would be no problem, coffee would see me through. Tonight I’ll probably do the sensible thing and get some sleep, pessimism and reality intruding on my footballing dreams.”
The whistle goes ... and the players take a knee. Black lives matter.
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The teams are out! Norwich City in canary yellow, Brighton in beach-towel blue and white stripes. We’ll be off soon! But not before there’s a minute of applause to celebrate the 72nd birthday of the NHS and to honour the selfless work of its heroic staff during this epidemic. A brief word from the man behind its foundation by Labour, the legendary Aneurin Bevan: “So far as I am concerned [the Conservative Party] are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of people to semi-starvation. I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying. They have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse.”
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Here’s Daniel Farke. “We always have to rest a lot, we’ve had a lot of workload. In the offence, when you want to be creative, it’s important to be fresh and sharp, so we have made a few changes. Hopefully it’s the right choice. We have to play with less mistakes and be at the top of our game. We have to make sure our performance is really spot on. In general, I am not willing to give any fighting messages. I will speak after the game about our chances [of avoiding relegation] but for now I am concentrating on this performance.”
A word with Brighton boss Graham Potter. “Manchester United were a strong opponent, but we’ve picked up four points from our first three matches against Arsenal, Leicester and United, so a bit of perspective, we’ve done quite well. It’s nice to bounce back from a defeat, so that’s what we’ll try to do. Three points in the Premier League is massive, and would help a lot, but we’ll just focus on the game.”
Both teams were defeated heavily in midweek; both teams make four changes as a result. Norwich, battered 4-0 at Arsenal, replace Lukas Rupp, Todd Cantwell, Tom Trybull and Teemu Pukki with Timm Klose, Ondrej Duda, Onel Hernandez and Josip Drmic. Brighton, beaten 3-0 by Manchester United, stand down Shane Duffy, Dale Stephens, Alexis Mac Allister and Martin Montoya; in come Adam Webster, Aaron Mooy, Leandro Trossard and Neal Maupay.
The teams
Norwich City: Krul, Aarons, Godfrey, Klose, Lewis, Tettey, McLean, Buendia, Duda, Hernandez, Drmic.
Subs: Rupp, Vrancic, Cantwell, Stiepermann, Trybull, Pukki, McGovern, Idah, Martin.
Brighton & Hove Albion: Ryan, Lamptey, Webster, Dunk, Burn, Propper, Bissouma, Mooy, Trossard, Maupay, Connolly.
Subs: Duffy, Stephens, Mac Allister, Gross, Murray, March, Montoya, Button, Bernardo.
Referee: Stuart Atwell (Nuneaton).
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Preamble
If bottom-of-the-table Norwich City are to stage a great escape, they’ll have to start winning very, very soon. This afternoon, in fact, pretty much. Given that two of their last six fixtures are away at Chelsea and Manchester City, and they’re currently seven points plus goal difference shy of safety, you’d think wins against Brighton, Watford, West Ham and Burnley are non-negotiable. And even then it might not be enough.
One step at a time, though. Brighton first. The Seagulls aren’t safe yet, though they’ve got a six-point buffer on 18th-placed Aston Villa, and their post-lockdown form hasn’t been too bad. Sure, they got ravaged by Manchester United midweek, but they’ve also earned a point at high-flying Leicester and beaten Arsenal. And they did for Norwich back in November, 2-0, so confidence shouldn’t be an issue.
As for the Canaries themselves, they’ve lost all four of their matches since the restart to the aggregate tune of 10-1. None of this paints a pretty picture, though City should take heart from the way they ran Manchester United close in the FA Cup last weekend. And they did beat Manchester City here earlier in the season, after all. So can they write the first chapter of an unlikely Great Escape story today? Or will Brighton all but seal their place in next year’s Premier League with a precious win? It could be a ride finding out. It’s on!
Kick off: 12.30pm.
