Welcome to the Thursday-Sunday club. Brighton bounced back after their midweek Europa League defeat to record their fifth win in six Premier League matches, their best start to a top-flight season, and move up to third place. However, it was a result they had to grind out after looking lost in the first half.
Dominic Solanke put Bournemouth ahead after 25 minutes with his third goal of the season following a howler from Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. But Brighton levelled in added time at the end of the first half with an own goal by Milos Kerkez, and took the lead 15 seconds into the second half through substitute Kaoru Mitoma. The Japan winger then headed the home side 3-1 in front, but it was never easy.
Seven team changes meant that Brighton played like strangers in their 3-2 home defeat by AEK Athens on Thursday and the three-day turnaround forced another slew of alterations against a far more cohesive Bournemouth, who have still failed to win in the Premier League this season. Brighton have now made 22 changes to their starting line-up in three games.
But that was only part of the reason they found the first half heavy going. When they had possession, they found Bournemouth unwilling to be drawn forward into their trap. That allowed Verbruggen to advance well outside his penalty area with the ball, to the bemusement of the crowd, and eventually their frustration.
And their fears were realised after 25 minutes when Ryan Christie’s quick burst from Verbruggen’s right caught him unawares and his challenge sent the ball to Solanke, who chipped the ball into the empty net.
It meant that Brighton have gone 11 matches without a clean sheet, and was a victory for Bournemouth’s game plan, refusing to move up the pitch and leave the spaces that Brighton tried to exploit. Their methods are no secret to opponents any more, and they can expect plenty more coaches to devise tactics that frustrate them. The key then will be individuals’ skills, but with Ansu Fati, Mitoma, Solly March and Joao Pedro on the bench, Brighton were temporarily lacking in that department.
They needed a fluke goal to level in first-half added time. They could have scored when Adam Webster had a shot blocked following a corner but when the ball came back out to the taker, Billy Gilmour, his cross from the left was flicked past his own goalkeeper by Hungary defender Kerkez.
De Zerbi sent on Mitoma and Fati at the break and it paid immediate dividends. After 15 seconds of the half, Mahmoud Dahoud flicked Fati’s pass into the path of Mitoma and the Japan winger shot past Neto into the corner.
Two Bournemouth forwards failed to make contact with Philip Billing’s clever cross as the visitors looked for a quick reply, but Brighton were looking more like their usual free-flowing selves and Fati, on loan from Barcelona, missed a golden chance to score a third on the hour when he hit Simon Adingra’s low cross sideways instead of into the empty net.
That could have proved costly when Bournemouth sub Antoine Semenyo stung Verbruggen’s palms after an ambitious run down the left.
But Brighton made it 3-1 after 76 minutes. Carlos Baleba, on his debut as a substitute, won the ball and when Pervis Estupinan’s cross arced in from the left, Mitoma leapt unmarked to head in from six yards.
The drama was not over. Verbruggen parried a shot from Sememyo and could only half-stop Solanke’s follow-up header. But Dunk was on hand to clear the ball from the goal line. And Estupinan had to produce a last-ditch block from a shot by substitute David Brooks.
