Ten-man Brighton and Hove Albion see off Sunderland

Sunderland 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 2 Maxim De Cuyper and Jaouen Hadjam both scored as 10-man Brighton and Hove Albion clinched a 2-0 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. The game sparked into life in a chaotic four-minute spell early in the second half as De Cuyper put the Seagulls in front before they were reduced to 10 men. Pascal Struijk was sent off in the 57th minute after a VAR review for denying a goalscoring chance but Sunderland struggled to make the extra man count. They were punished by Brighton on the break as Hadjam finished things off in the third minute of stoppage time. A hard-earned three points leave the Seagulls in third place in the table while the Black Cats now linger just above the relegation zone in 16th. Regis Le Bris made three switches to the team that was beaten 5-3 by Manchester City before the international break. Trai Hume, Reinildo Mandava and Wilson Isidor all lined up while Brighton remained unchanged from their last outing, a 3-0 win over Arsenal. Robin Roefs was called into action early on when a loose touch from Kevin Danso allowed Diego Gomez to pounce but his shot was smothered by the Sunderland goalkeeper. He made another intervention to tip away an inswinging corner from De Cuyper – and Yasin Ayari blasted wide from outside the area as Brighton strengthened their grip. Despite some positive play from the Seagulls, Sunderland nearly went in front when Isidor met a low cross from Enzo Le Fee and the striker’s sliding effort at the near post was deflected behind. In a scrappy period, the hosts almost went in front after Thomas Meunier controlled the ball well but his resulting shot was stopped brilliantly by the sliding Ferdi Kadioglu. Danso hooked away Ayari’s teasing ball into the six-yard box before an injury saw Meunier withdrawn for Malick Fofana in the 34th minute. Fofana was instantly in the thick of the action and crossed to Danso, who looped a header over the bar before Bart Verbruggen was forced to stop Nordi Mukiele’s long-range strike as the Black Cats ramped up the pressure. Brighton also continued to threaten although when Struijk had a header on the stroke of half-time it proved tame and hit the post. Roefs brought down Gomez’s strike from distance shortly after the restart before Brighton broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute. A quick piece of play saw Pascal Gross squeeze a pass through the home defence and into De Cuyper who placed the ball into the bottom corner. Brighton’s afternoon then took a twist four minutes later when, after a VAR review, referee Tom Bramall showed a red card to Struijk for denying Isidor a goalscoring opportunity. Verbruggen pushed away the resulting free-kick from Granit Xhaka – and Fabian Hürzeler brought Lewis Dunk on to help manage proceedings. Sunderland struggled to capitalise on their extra player as Fofana had a comfortable shot held by Verbruggen and Brighton looked to threaten when Gomez had a shot turned behind. The Black Cats dominated in possession but never really tested Verbruggen and, late on, Hürzeler sent on Hadjam and Georginio Rutter after 88 minutes. Five minutes later, Rutter managed to tee up Hadjam who fired the ball into the bottom corner to wrap up the three points. Afterwards, Hürzeler urged his side to keep improving as they put in a solid shift at the back while their two-goal tally meant that they remain the Premier League’s top scorers this season. Hürzeler said: “We still want to improve. We still want to keep going and we always need to understand it’s about doing the basic things right. “It’s about starting from point zero. I mentioned before the game there’s no momentum because every team has something special in this league. Every team has a different approach. “From point zero, we have to start again and do the same things again – I think that’s crucial – and trying to focus on performances, focus on the process and not too much let us (be) affected by the results.” Hürzeler was also pleased with how his team performed after Struijk was shown a red card by referee Tom Bramall following a VAR review for denial of a goalscoring opportunity. He said: “I was very pleased because we won the 30 minutes and it was very important for us. We defended as a team. “Everyone understood now we have to defend. We have to be brilliant at the basics. We have to defend the goals, defend crosses, defend the box well. That’s really positive. “Regarding the red card, I didn’t see it back yet. The only thing I can say is we had so many meetings before the season where we got educated that the VAR only comes into the game when it’s clear on decisions and I think no one in the stadium saw a clear, wrong decision.” Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris admitted his side were “not efficient” in the final phase of the game as they struggled to test Brighton, despite holding an extra player advantage. Dayann Methalie and Jocelin Ta Bi were introduced from the bench in the 73rd minute before Juan Riquelme made his Sunderland debut with nine minutes to play but they could not find an equaliser. Le Bris said: “We felt we were not efficient at that moment. It’s a learning process. We went with Malick (Fofana), 21, Dayann, 20, and Jocelin, 21. “It’s not an easy task to start (your career) in the Premier League in that situation but this is the challenge. “We are in our process. The league is tough. The league is relentless. Fine details change the momentum and today it wasn’t for us.”

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Ten-man Brighton and Hove Albion see off Sunderland

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