Lallana comes close for Brighton but VAR steps in to save Fulham
This was a powerful argument for those who would quite like to hibernate for the remainder of 2020. Neither Fulham nor Brighton quite got going despite a brighter second half that allowed both to argue they might have won, but the abiding feeling was one of a non-event.
Perhaps it was the renewed absence of supporters at a venue that had so gleefully welcomed them when Liverpool were held here on Sunday; either way the night seemed flat from the outset and these sides will need to muster more spark than this if the draw is to be of consequence come May.
For now at least, it puts them outside the relegation zone. Fulham would have been left there if they had not emerged intact from the game’s major incident, which came as Brighton attempted to turn the screw in a spell of concerted pressure straight after halftime.
Adam Lallana, who had arrived to convert coolly after Danny Welbeck could not control Solly March’s cross, thought he had scored his first goal for the club, but was denied with the players lining up to restart. A VAR check correctly found Welbeck had handled and Brighton were forced to dust themselves down.
They did that and a few minutes later Adam Webster thudded a header against the underside of the crossbar. It was their final significant chance. Lewis Dunk had forced a parry from Alphonse Areola shortly before Lallana’s frustration and during a tedious first half Welbeck had air-kicked Tariq Lamptey’s centre when well placed. That was all as exciting as it got for the visitors, but Graham Potter was not of a mind to complain.
“I don’t think I’m disappointed, I’m pleased with the performance of the players and what they gave,” he said. “It was important to be stable and keep a clean sheet.”
That particular achievement owed something to Robert Sánchez, selected instead of Mat Ryan in goal for his second Premier League appearance. Ryan did not travel to London and Potter confirmed Sánchez will keep his place when Brighton host Sheffield United on Sunday.
The keeper survived an early flutter with the ball at his feet to look the part, tipping over from Ivan Cavaleiro in Fulham’s only real moment of preinterval threat and then making important stops from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ademola Lookman as the clock ticked down.
“We made the decision to go with Rob, he’s got some incredible attributes and huge potential,” Potter said.
Scott Parker felt his players had “lacked a little something”, perhaps in part due to the comedown from their lung-busting effort against the champions. Like Potter, he seemed especially happy not to have conceded and it was not the only similarity in the managers’ reactions. “It was a fair result and we move on now,” Parker said.
“It’s a hard-fought point, we accept it and move forward to the weekend,” Potter echoed.
Contentment all round, then, but it was hard not to shake the sense this was a lost evening.