After a much-needed midweek victory against Brentford, Brighton and Hove Albion were back on the South Coast on Saturday to host a struggling Burnley side. Vincent Kompany’s Clarets are slowly improving, despite a narrow loss at Wolves in midweek, but their 5-0 home victory at last weekend has given the Lancashire outfit some hope of Premier League survival.
BHA: Verbruggen, Milner, Van Hecke, Baleba, Dunk, Dahoud, Gross, Adingra, Pedro, Lallana, Ferguson
BUR: Trafford, O’Shea, Taylor, Beyer, Vitinho, Berge, Odobert, Gudmundsson, Brownhill, Amdouni, Rodriguez
Roberto de Zerbi has found himself in the middle of his first difficult stage as Brighton manager; the win in midweek came as just their third in nine Premier League games, and they would have been favourites for three points against Vincent Kompany’s Burnley side at the AMEX stadium.
After a non-eventful first half hour, in which Brighton dominated possession without carving out many golden opportunities, Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford saved the first of what would be many vital stops throughout the afternoon.
Embed from Getty ImagesJoao Pedro’s header was saved by the Burnley shot stopper before a second header floated wide for the Seagulls, and a speculative shot from Dahoud flew over as Brighton began to assert their dominance.
Further chances for the home side were scuppered by Trafford before Burnley took the lead moments before half time against the run of play.
Wilson Odobert’s snap shot hit Premier League talisman James Milner and floated over the Brighton goalkeeper and into the top corner for his third goal of the season, as Kompany’s side went into the interval with a barely believable one goal lead.
De Zerbi brought on Billy Gilmour and Kaoru Mitoma off the bench to add the final product but James Trafford continued to deny the home side with a number of saves.
Brighton did eventually find a way through the Clarets’ defences after 77 minutes as Simon Adingra’s header restored parity in what was Brighton’s 32nd consecutive game in scoring a goal but they could not find a second as both sides had to settle for a point.
Burnley remain in 19th but just two points off safety while Brighton stay in eighth with a tricky trip to the Emirates to come next weekend.
