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Southampton picked up a surprise point at the Amex Stadium where goals from Flynn Downes and Kaoru Mitoma meant spoils were shared in a 1-1 draw.
The Saints were coming off the back of an unlucky defeat to Liverpool last Sunday, after leading 2-1 against the front runners for most of the game before a Mo Salah brace secured a win for the Reds.
Brighton came into the game the favourites following their recent run of form that has seen them beat champions Manchester City and picking up an impressive 2-1 win at Bournemouth last week.
The Seagulls started the better of the two sides, with former Leeds forward Georginio Rutter seeing a lot of the ball in the final third early on. In the 16th minute, the Frenchman cut inside dangerously, hitting a powerful shot off the post.
Brighton eventually broke the deadlock in the 29th minute when Tariq Lamptey whipped a ball in from the right hand side, and a fortunate bounce of the ball would find its way to Kaoru Mitoma who headed home from close range.
It’s Mitoma’s third goal of the season and back to back goals for him after netting against Bournemouth last week. Despite his ability to guide the ball home, it was poor defending from Southampton who shouldn’t have let the ball bounce in the box to find the winger at the back post.
Mitoma’s goal was soured slightly in the 32nd minute when Brighton’s head coach Fabian Hürzeler picked up a yellow card, which will see him banned from the touchline for Brighton’s clash against Fulham next Thursday night.
Despite Brighton’s dominate, chances were still coming for Southampton, as shown in the 44th minute when Cameron Archer was picked out in the box from close range, but the ball whipped in with pace rocketed off his knee and the chance would go away.
Southampton would start the second half the more positive of the 2 sides, and their dominance would be rewarded in the 59th minute. Talented youngster Tyler Dibling raced through Brighton’s midfield, and after the ball would eventually fall for Adam Armstrong, his shot was blocked, but a fortunate bounce would see Ryan Manning tee up Flynn Downes who fired the volley home to pull Southampton level.
Though it was Downes who finished the move for his first Premier League goal, at the heart of it as ever was 18-year-old Tyler Dibbling, who continues to impress for Russell Martins’s side. Though Southampton have been characterised this season by a lack of quality and poor decisions making in the final third, this is in no part to Dibbling who excites every time he gets the ball.
Southampton would seemingly take the lead in the 67th minute when substitute Ryan Fraser would flash the ball across the box with Cameron Archer tapping in at the back post, but a 5 minute VAR review would find Archer’s strike partner Adam Armstrong was in an offside position.
In what seems like a very harsh call against the former Newcastle striker, the Premier League Match Centre confirmed that he was “impacting Verbruggen’s ability to play the ball”. A very harsh decision denied Saints the lead.
From here, both sides struggled to create chances, until a final free kick in the 103rd minute found Jan Paul van Hecke at the back post, but his header goes well wide and the referee brought the match to a conclusion.
Despite dropping points from a winning position here, Brighton moved into 2nd above Manchester City on goals scored. Southampton remain rock bottom on 5 points.
The Seagulls travel to Fulham next Thursday night, while the Saints host Chelsea on Wednesday night.
