MITOMA MAGIC
Cherries picked off by Kaoru’s late winner
ARSENAL wannabe Moises Caicedo received a warm welcome in from the cold but it was Japanese hotshot Kaoru Mitoma who wowed the Brighton faithful – again.
Just as head coach Roberto De Zerbi wanted, the majority at the Amex applauded Caicedo’s second-half introduction – the Ecuador midfielder’s first appearance since failing to force a £60million move to the league leaders.
Yet no question the Italian was even more delighted with Mitoma’s last-gasp strike that edged this South Coast clash.
The hosts are up to sixth in the table – and much of that is down to Mitoma’s current sizzling goal-spree of five in seven.
De Zerbi, who celebrated the decisive strike and victory in wild fashion, said: “I am very happy with the fans’ reaction to Moises because together we are stronger here.
“It was not the best game of Mitoma’s life but I can never take him off as he can always score at any time. I thought he would score today. He’s making a habit of it.”
Losing was harsh on the Cherries who, armed with three of their six January signings, deserved at least a point.
Gary O’Neil, with seven defeats in the last eight, reckoned that they were denied a penalty in each half – and that Brighton’s winner should not have stood.
The Bournemouth boss groaned: “There’s a foul in the build up to the goal when Dunk throws Vina to the ground. We were surprised it was allowed.
“And we should have had two penalties. The first is a foul on Dango (Ouattara) – he’s in front of their defender but it’s not given.
“Then in the second half, the ball hits their defender’s hand when going to
Dango.” The day had started badly for O’Neil’s strugglers with Everton’s shock win over Arsenal dropping them to 19th.
And it ended in the worst possible fashion as Brighton sub Jeremy Sarmiento crossed for Mitoma to head home in the 88th minute. In between, it was at best dogged from both sides as the few chances which arrived were wasted.
Brighton striker Deniz Undav missed an extraordinary hat-trick of opportunities during a crazy first-half melee.
And late on the Cherries’ new £9m hitman Antoine Semenyo, snapped up from Bristol City, fluffed a golden opening when clean through.
BRIGHTON: Sanchez 6; Lamptey 6 (Buonanotte (75) 6), Dunk 6, Veltman 7, Estupinan 7; Gilmour (Caicedo (57) 6), Gross 6; March 7 (Webster (88) 6), Undav 6 (Encisco (75) 6), Mitoma 8; Welbeck 6 (Sarmiento (57) 7)
B’MOUTH: Neto 5; A Smith 7, Mepham 7, Senesi 6, Zemura 7; Ouattara 7, Lerma 6, Billing 6 (Rothwell (66) 6), Anthony 7 (Vina (81) 6); Traore 7 (Christie (62) 6), Semenyo 7
STAR MAN: Kaoru Mitoma – Brighton’s Japanese ace pops up with yet another priceless goal.
Craig Pawson 7
VINCENT KOMPANY insists he doesn’t care if his Burnley side become record-breakers this month.
Goals from Anass Zaroury, substitute Vitinho and debutant Hjalmar Ekdal burst new Norwich manager David Wagner’s bubble.
It was a ninth straight Championship win for the runaway leaders, who extended their advantage over second-place Sheffield United to seven points.
Only Reading in 2005-06 and Aston Villa in 2018-19 have won 10 in a row before.
Burnley can equal that at home to Preston on Saturday and break it against Watford on Valentine’s Day.
Kompany, in his first season as a boss in English football, was only looking at the bigger picture however.
He said: “I don’t look at that, I really don’t. But my experiences of teams who have done those type of results are teams who don’t care about it too much because there is a bigger picture that is more important.”
Norwich had high hopes for an upset given that Wagner had begun his league campaign with thumping away wins at Preston and Coventry.
By Jon West AT CARROW ROAD
All that good work was undone within eight minutes however when keeper Tim Krul passed his goal-kick straight to Zaroury for a gift of an opener.
Norwich shot themselves in the foot once again by conceding two more from Johann Berg Gudmundsson corners.
Vitinho – on the pitch for a handful of seconds – headed in the first one and Ekdal, last month’s centre-back signing, poked in the second after Ian Maatsen had retrieved at the back post.
Krul’s clanger was a jaw-dropping mistake given his experience but Wagner said: “We can also discuss the individuals who didn’t mark their men or the spaces in the set-pieces situations.”
NORWICH: Krul 4; Aarons 6, Omobamidele 6, Hanley 7, Giannoulis 6; Sara 6, McLean 6; Sargent 5 (Idah (61) 5), Dowell 7 (Tzolis (72) 6), Hernandez 6 (Nunez (61) 5); Pukki 6
BURNLEY: Peacock-Farrell 7; Roberts 7, Beyer 8, Ekdal 8 (Taylor (79) 4), Maatsen 7; Cullen 6, Brownhill 6; Gudmundsson 7 (Foster (73) 5), Tella 6 (Vitinho (54) 6), Zaroury 7; Barnes 7
STAR MAN: Hjalmar Ekdal – a goal and a clean sheet on his debut for Burnley’s new Swedish defender.
REF: Keith Stroud 4