Cameron Winstanley
Brighton and Southampton played out an exciting draw as the battle to finish in the top 10 hots up.
The hosts took the lead inside two minutes when Danny Welbeck stabbed home into an open net. Albion then doubled their lead thanks to a Mohammed Salisu own goal following great work from Welbeck in the build-up.
A textbook James WardProwse free kick halved the deficit for the visitors just before half-time. The skipper then drilled in from outside the box to complete the turnaround, and his brace, early in the second half.
Brighton saw what would’ve been a winning goal chalked off after VAR confirmed the linesman’s marginal offside call against Alexis Mac Allister in the build-up to Pascal Gross’ terrific strike from distance.
Both sides put on a display for the fans today as the game ebbed and flowed with both teams enjoying more flourishing periods in the game than the other.
Here are three things you might’ve missed from today’s action:
Salisu’s painful clearance
Salisu endured a nightmare first-half. At fault for the first goal, along with Fraser Forster, he then put the ball in the back of his own net for the second, all whilst looking uncomfortable throughout.
However, it was his involvement in the first goal that set the tone for the rest of his half. Welbeck tapped in from yards out after the Ghanaian and Forster failed to deal with Marc Cucurella’s ball across the six-yard box.
As the two collided, the ball rolled to Welbeck with Salisu trying an incredibly speculative clearance. With Forster between him and the ball, the defender swung his leg trying desperately to reach the ball that wasn’t possible for him to get near.
Instead he ended up roundhouse kicking Forster in the side of the head leaving the goalkeeper on the floor, perplexed as to what just happened. The pain of conceding just seconds into the game doubled in an instant for the English stopper.
Sanchez’s sarcasm
Even from kick off in the opening 45, Southampton were looking long to utilise the pace of Che Adams and Shane Long on the counter attack.
The visitors played 26 long balls compared to the hosts 19, with most of those coming from deep towards the two restless strikers.
A goalkeeper not moulded in the modern ilk as his Brighton counterpart, Forster very rarely played out to his defence and midfield, instead opting to aim long. One clearance in particular during the first half was picked up kindly by the wind and taken towards the Albion goal.
The ball without a bounce made its way into the Albion area and straight to a ready Robert Sanchez who plucked the ball gratefully into his chest. The Spaniard even acknowledged the kick from the other end of the pitch, sarcastically putting his thumb up to Forster as if the pass were aimed for him like a warm-up routine.
Brighton stars’ homes
Graham Potter, in his postmatch press conference, was asked whether his side had been instructed to be more
aware of giving away fouls on the edge of their own box against the prolific free kick expert Ward-Prowse.
The Saints skipper has a catalogue of free kick goals, almost as thick as they come in the Premier League.
His first goal of the afternoon saw him net his 14th direct Premier League free kick, second in the all-time list, only four behind David Beckham’s total.
Almost synonymous with free-kicks, Potter felt that no one needs reminding of the central-midfielder’s deadliness, especially not his players.
When asked whether he prepared his players to avoid giving away dangerous freekicks, he said. “They don’t live in a cave, they’re aware of him and aware of the danger.”
Seemingly by the outcome, Cucurella hadn’t considered the Englishman’s ability when he brought down Nathan Tella which Ward-Prowse tucked away.
Nevertheless, it was a tongue in cheek answer from Potter that brought smiles across the room in the press conference.
‘They don’t live in a cave, they’re aware of him’