Brighton and Hove Albion brushed aside fellow South Coast club Bournemouth 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday.
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Alireza Jahanbakhsh smashed home an early goal and Aaron Mooy sealed the win with a superb late solo goal, as the Seagulls totally dominated the Cherries at the Amex Stadium. It was Brighton’s first win against Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The win pushed Brighton up to 13th place on 23 points, while Bournemouth are on 20 points.
3 things we learned
1. Bournemouth’s attacking woes: Scoring goals has never been an issue for Bournemouth under Eddie Howe. Until now. The Cherries are the fifth lowest scorers in the Premier League this season and the likes of Ryan Fraser, Callum Wilson and Josh King have totally gone off the boil. Add to that the long-term injury of David Brooks as Howe has a big problem to solve given their defensive injuries and generally sloppy play at the back. Bournemouth now face West Ham, Watford, Norwich, Brighton and Aston Villa in their next five games. If they are still struggling for goals and points at the end of that run, it is time to seriously worry about the Cherries.
2. Mooy pulls the strings: He’s on loan from Huddersfield Town and he’s making a huge impression at the Amex. Mooy has been really good in recent months and his quality on the ball and from set piece situations gives Brighton a cutting edge. Mooy’s goal summed up what he is all about as he surged into the box, showed lovely close control and stroked the ball home. Brighton’s four-game winless run was ended in emphatic style as Mooy showcased his supreme talent on the ball.
3. VAR under scrutiny: Dan Burn thought he had given Brighton a 2-0 lead as he hooked home after a goalmouth scramble but VAR chalked the goal off after he was a smidgen offside when the ball came in. It was the tightest of calls (more of half an elbow than an armpit) and VAR ruled it was offside. It was the correct call but purists everywhere were left shaking their heads in disbelief.
Man of the Match: Aaron Mooy - Scored his first goal for Brighton with superb style, whipped in dangerous balls all game long and the Australian midfielder ran the show.
Brighton were dominant early on and raced into a deserved 1-0 lead.
After receiving the ball from Neal Maupay, Jahanbakhsh drilled home a superb low effort and the Iranian playmaker broke down in tears as he celebrated scoring his first Premier League goal for Brighton following his move from AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2018.
Aaron Mooy was causing plenty of problems for Bournemouth, as the Australian midfielder was pulling all of the strings for the Seagulls as they pinned the Cherries back.
Before half time Bournemouth launched two counter attacks as Dan Burn blocked Harry Wilson’s shot on the first and Josh King’s ball on the second was blocked by Lewis Dunk.
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The start of the second half turned into a frantic end-to-end encounter as Dunk did well to deny Domnic Solanke at the last moment as Bournemouth wanted a penalty kick, and at the other end Brighton continued to look dangerous from set piece situations.
And that is how they thought they doubled their lead. After an almighty scramble in the box, giant defender Burn hooked home what he thought was his first goal for the club but the goal was then chalked off by VAR as Burn was offside when the original free kick came in.
Mooy dragged a shot just wide of the post and Yves Bissouma hit the post as Brighton were unperturbed by that disallowed goal.
Bournemouth brought Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser off the bench for the final 30 minutes but they couldn’t get anything going as Mooy sealed the win for the Seagulls with a fantastic finish.