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Here’s Lewis Dunk
“It feels really good. That was a proper performance - the first half was even, though we were disappointed with the goal we conceded, but we were excellent in the second half and the winning goal showed how good we can be.”
That was an excellent and deserved win for Brighton, who dominated the game in the second half after Graham Potter switched to a back three. Their geriatricos, Danny Welbeck and Adam Lallana, were terrific, while Lewis Dunk and Leandro Trossard scored fine goals.
Full time: Southampton 1-2 Brighton
Peep peep! Brighton get some just deserts!
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90+2 min Southampton appeal even more desperately for a penalty when Walker-Peters goes over in the area. Stuart Attwell says no, as does VAR. Replays show that Veltman got the ball.
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90+1 min Ward-Prowse’s corner is headed away by Dunk. The ball goes back to Walker-Peters, who clips a brilliant straight pass over the outrushing defence to find Ward-Prowse. He stretches to volley the ball across goal and Brighton clear desperately.
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90+1 min Walker-Peters’ cross is put behind for a corner by Veltman...
90 min Three minutes of added time. Brighton have started lumping the ball anywhere, which I suppose is understandable given their recent results.
88 min Southampton cannot generate any attacking momentum. If they do equalise, it will be yet another hard-luck story for Brighton.
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86 min Southampton make their final change, with Dan N’Lundulu coming on for Stuart Armstrong.
85 min Zeqiri plays a good ball to the underlapping Trossard, whose cutback is put behind by Vestergaard. That’s Trossard’s last contribution: he is replaced by Jakub Moder.
83 min Southampton are struggling to create openings, never mind chances. They were good in the first half but have really struggled since the break.
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80 min Brighton have been much the better team in the second half. They are such a likeable side, and it’s hard to fathom that they are in relegation battle.
78 min Zeqiri finds some space in a congested penalty area before screwing a shot from a tight angle that is pushed behind by Forster.
77 min Another change for Brighton. Davy Propper replaces Danny Welbeck, who had an excellent game and made the second goal.
75 min Welbeck plays a good pass to Maupay, who wheezes into the area before being dispossessed by the last man Vestergaard.
74 min “How can a referee play and advantage which ends with a shot on goal and a good save by the goalkeeper, then rescind the ‘advantage’ to go back and allow a free kick?” says Peter Littley. “Surely having played on, taken a shot and having it saved has exhausted the advantage.”
I think the laws talk about ‘anticipated advantage’, which presumably means a goal rather than a shot at goal. I know what you mean though.
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72 min Brighton look pretty comfortable at the moment, though given their recent woes I’m not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing.
70 min Gross tries a surprise low shot which takes a deflection off the wall and dribbles through to Forster.
69 min Welbeck is fouled near the left corner of the area. Gross will take the free-kick...
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68 min Another change for Southampton: Moussa Djenepo replaces Nathan Tella.
66 min Southampton have switched to a 4-3-3, with Redmond on the left, Tella on the right and Armstrong moving into the middle.
65 min A change for Southampton: Nathan Redmond replaces Takumi Minamino.
63 min Zeqiri surprises everyone with a vicious cross-shot that flashes just wide of the far post. Forster had it covered but it was an excellent strike.
61 min Ward-Prowse’s free-kick hits the wall and deflects behind for a corner.
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60 min: Chance for Southampton! The marauding Tella is fouled this far outside the area. Stuart Attwell plays an excellent advantage, which allows Adams to veer away from Dunk and hit a shot that is excellently saved by Sanchez. Play is then brought back for the foul.
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That was lovely football. Lallana played a sharp angled pass into Welbeck, who opened his body to steer a delightful first-time pass that put Trossard through on goal. He took the ball in his stride and rammed it high into the net from 12 yards. Great goal.
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GOAL! Southampton 1-2 Brighton (Trossard 56)
Brighton take the lead with an outstanding team goal!
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53 min Bertrand’s cross is cleared to the edge of the area, where Ward-Prowse controls the ball and hits a crisp shot that is comfortably saved to his right by Sanchez.
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51 min “Liverpool have gone for a Minamino-less approach to attacking,” says Niall Mullen, “and a minimalist approach to defending.”
49 min A quiet start to the second half. You’re welcome.
47 min It looks like Brighton have gone to a back three, with Gross and Zeqiri as wing-backs. Trossard is now playing just behind the front two.
46 min Peep peep! Southampton begin the second half. Brighton have made a half-time change, with Dan Burn replaced by Andi Zeqiri.
“Re: Rick Harris’ comment on Welbeck, I reckon Brighton needs quantity, not quality of goals,” says Admir Pajic. “Had they had Ings in their team they would have fought West Ham for a European position this season. If they survive this season and don’t address the goalscoring issue in the summer, their next season might be the Sheffield United hell of a season.”
Half time: Southampton 1-1 Brighton
Peep peep! That was a really enjoyable first half, with two excellent goals. Lewis Dunk’s superb header put Brighton ahead; Che Adams spanking volley to bring Southampton level.
45+1 min Trossard hits a smart volley from the edge of the area that is comfortably saved by Forster, falling to his left.
45 min Two minutes of added time.
42 min: Good save from Forster! That was an excellent chance for Brighton. They moved the ball really nicely, with Burn galloping infield from the left and finding Gross in space in the area. He slipped slightly as he hit a low shot that was saved by the legs of Forster. Gross will probably think he should have done better.
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40 min “I think it’s really good that Minamino is playing well and getting involved in goals for Southampton,” writes Liverpool fan Matt Dony. “Very nice indeed. I’m really happy about it. Over the moon for him. Not at all frustrated. Not a single part of me that thinks he might have made a small difference and offered something different over the last couple of months. Excellent.”
38 min Ward-Prowse’s wicked free-kick from the left hits Dunk at the near post and ricochets through to Sanchez. That could have gone anywhere.
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36 min Brighton have had a bit of success with longer passes today, and Welbeck almost gets through on goal from another. The ball skimmed off his head and through to Forster.
33 min Maupay is fouled 30 yards from goal by Bednarek. Gross curls a dangerous free-kick in between defenders and goalkeeper, but it is fractionally overhit and runs out of play for a goalkick.
29 min Minamino plays a one-two with Diallo and hits a low shot from the edge of the area that is comfortably saved by Sanchez.
27 min The leaping Lewis Dunk got a touch on Bertrand’s header across goal - but he could only help it on towards Adams, and he finished emphatically. Dunk was at full stretch so there wasn’t much more he could do.
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GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Brighton (Adams 27)
Ward-Prowse’s corner is headed away as far as Minamino, whose stinging half-volley is blocked. Southampton keep the ball alive, with Armstrong swinging a cross towards the far post. Bertrand heads it back across goal towards Adams, who hammers a volley past Sanchez from eight yards.
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26 min This is a good spell for Southampton, and Armstrong wins another corner.
24 min Minamino’s long-range shot is blocked by his teammate Adams.
22 min Southampton win a corner on the left. Ward-Prowse’s delivery is unusually poor, straight into the arms of Sanchez.
21 min Armstrong’s long-range shot is blocked by Lallana. Both teams are playing some bright, purposeful football.
17 min Fraser Forster reacted a little late, as if unsighted, but it really was superb use of the noggin by Dunk. I have no idea how he generated so much power in the header.
GOAL! Southampton 0-1 Brighton (Dunk 16)
Brighton take the lead from the resulting corner! Gross curls it out towards the penalty spot, where Dunk gets in front of Bertrand and powers a terrific header into the bottom corner.
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16 min That’s more like it from Brighton. Welbeck’s clever backflick finds Maupay 20 yards from goal, and he cracks a rising drive that is clawed away by the leaping Forster.
15 min Southampton have been the better team so far, though there isn’t a huge amount in it.
13 min Sanchez charges from his area to beat Minamino to a through ball. Good goalkeeping.
10 min “Huge game for Brighton today after Fulham’s recent charge was predictably stopped dead in its tracks by the imminent PL champions,” says Rick Harris. “Good to see Welbeck starting as he has a knack of scoring important goals.”
Agreed. If Brighton don’t win today or next Saturday (Newcastle at home), I fear for them. They have a pretty tough run-in.
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8 min Walker-Peters’ cross deflects towards Armstrong, who sidefoots straight at Sanchez from 15 yards. That was a chance, and an unusually tame finish from Armstrong.
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5 min Trossard has two shots blocked in quick succession. A goal wouldn’t have counted as Maupray was fractionally offside in the build up, but Brighton worked the ball really nicely to create the chance.
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4 min There was a suggestion that Brighton would play a diamond but it looks more like a standard 4-4-2, or maybe 4-1-3-2 with Bissouma slightly deeper. I love tactics, me.
3 min “I can confirm it is chilly,” writes Ben Fisher, our man at St Mary’s.
2 min An early half chance for Adams, who heads Bertrand’s cross wide of the near post. He was backpedalling and couldn’t get any power on the ball, never mind direction.
1 min Peep peep! Brighton kick off from left to right.
The players are out on the field. It’s a chilly day on the south coast, or maybe it just looks that way on the TV because my hands are freezing.
On Southampton, am I the only one who thought Alex McCarthy got the ball when he tackled Phil Foden on Wednesday? It should still have been a penalty because of his follow through, but I’m pretty sure he got a very slight touch on the ball.
“As a losing team, looking at your xG is the sorry equivalent of looking down the order in a futile run chase and saying ‘if they could all just bat their averages...’,” says Niall Mullen. “In the words of both Clint Eastwood and Felicia ‘Snoop’ Pearson, deserve got nothing to do with it.”
You’re just angry because Liverpool didn’t really win the league last season.
Pre-match reading
This is a typically classy, perceptive piece from Paul Doyle on where it all went wrong for Chris Wilder at Sheffield United.
Team news
Southampton (4-4-2) Forster; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand; Armstrong, Diallo, Ward-Prowse, Minamino; Adams, Tella.
Substitutes: McCarthy, Stephens, Salisu, Ramsay, Redmond, Djenepo, Ferry, Watts, N’Lundulu.
Brighton (4-1-3-2) Sanchez; Veltman, White, Dunk, Burn; Bissouma; Gross, Lallana, Trossard; Welbeck, Maupay.
Substitutes: Steele, Moder, Mac Allister, Alzate, Propper, Jahanbakhsh, Izquierdo, Tau, Zeqiri.
Referee Stuart Attwell.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to the latest instalment of Brighton’s quest for just deserts. They have been comically unlucky this season, ever since Leandro Trossard hit the woodwork 47 times against Manchester United in September. If you’re into the whole Expected Goals thing, Brighton deserve to be fifth in the table with 45 points. But in the actual table they are 17th, with 26 points, and in serious danger of becoming one of the best teams ever to be relegated from the Premier League.
While Brighton’s bad luck has been on the field, Southampton’s has been off it. A grotesque injury list derailed them after a brilliant start to the season, and they have lost nine of their last 11 league games. They should have enough credit in the bank to stay up. For Brighton, there’s still a lot of work to do.
Kick off 12pm.
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