Brooks adds to Howe’s appeal
Eddie Howe will sit down to his Christmas dinner with Bournemouth comfortably ensconced in the top half of the Premier League.
Any festive peace is unlikely to last long for the Bournemouth manager, who spent the build up to this game distancing himself from any possible future vacancy at Tottenham.
But if the Bournemouth manager continues on his current trajectory, unearthing gems such as David Brooks, who scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season here, the suitors will only continue to covet him.
In truth, this game was a little closer than the scoreline suggests but once Brighton captain Lewis Dunk had been sent off with 20 minutes remaining, Brooks added his second and the result was sealed.
“[We were] a little bit nervy first half, much better in the second. I thought we were indebted to our goalkeeper for making two excellent saves,” said Howe.
“The recent run we’ve been on has been tough. At 1-0 the game was still very much in the balance but the players stood strong.
“[There were] two great goals from David, [I’m] very pleased. He showed his qualities in both moments. He’s certainly ahead of schedule, I’d say. We’ve been pleasantly surprised. We knew we were getting a good, technical player.
“We liked the player a lot, watching him at Sheffield [United]. He hadn’t played a lot at the back end of last seafootball son because he had glandular fever. That’s probably why we were able to get him to be honest. If he’d continued to play as he had been, he’d have gone beyond us.”
After Brighton had started well, Bournemouth went in front midway through the half. Brooks, 21, has proven smart business since his £11.5million summer move from Bramall Lane and he received Josh King’s pass, twisted his way along the penalty area, evading Davy Propper, and struck a beautiful left-foot shot low into the right corner.
When Dunk lunged in on Callum Wilson, referee Mike Dean produced the second yellow card and, with Dunk, went Brighton’s hopes of a point.
Brighton’s fate was sealed when Brooks cleverly pirouetted to glance in Ryan Fraser’s cross to bring relief around the Vitality Stadium.
“I’m really pleased with the performance, particularly in that first half,” said Chris Hughton, the Brighton manager. “It felt tough to come in at 1-0 down. But that’s the game; you have to take your chances.”