Three second-half goals in less than 10 minutes helped Brighton & Hove Albion continue their perfect start to the Premier League (PL) campaign, defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux Stadium. In the process, the Seagulls extend their impressive goalscoring run on the road to 15 PL away trips (W7, D3, L5).
Having failed to find an end product in their narrow defeat to Manchester United on Monday, Wolves had the ball in the back of the net inside five minutes, but Fábio Silva’s effort was swiftly flagged offside. Both sides looked full of life during the opening stages of the contest, yet Brighton were showing more threat, and it wasn’t long until they were in front. Kaoru Mitoma is often heralded for his dribbling ability, and that was on full display as he evaded several opposition players, before capping off a brilliant solo run with a composed side-footed finish.
The opening goal did nothing to slow down the contest’s electric tempo with plenty of chances for both teams. As the half progressed, the hosts’ lack of cutting-edge became the central theme, perfectly illustrated by both Silva and Rayan Aït-Nouri’s squandered opportunities to equalise before HT.
Those missed chances were ruthlessly punished within minutes of the restart. First, Danny Welbeck forced a save out of José Sá, which left the goal exposed and gave Pervis Estupiñán the simple task of firing in his second Brighton goal. Still shell-shocked, Wolves were hit on the counter moments later when Julio Enciso found himself with acres of space down the left and provided a perfect low cross for Solly March to convert. With 55 minutes on the clock, the home side’s capitulation continued as Enciso and March combined once again, this time carving Wolves open down the right before another tidy March finish.
A Hwang Hee-chan header from a corner reduced the deficit with the best part of 30 minutes to play, but unsurprisingly a comeback didn’t materalise as Roberto De Zerbi’s Seagulls saw out all three points. Meanwhile, a petulant red card for Matheus Nunes in stoppage time adds to Gary O’Neil’s woes with just two goals across Wolves’ last five (D1, L4) PL fixtures – especially concerning for a side without a point from their opening pair of games this season.
