Brighton & Hove Albion 0 Burnley 0
It may have been an essential early battle at the bottom of the table between two teams searching for results, but neither Brighton nor Burnley were able offer anything new as they departed to the international break with a limp 0-0 on a cold Friday night in Brighton.
Although so much of the talk earlier this season centred around the overwhelming number of goals sprinkled across the opening weeks of competition, neither team can relate. Brighton returned home having produced ample promising performances while failing to record a league win since the opening game of the season, their pleasing fluidity in midfield so often crumbling upon sight of goal.
Down at the foot of the table, Sean Dyche’s Burnley have managed just one achievement this year: their worst league start in the club’s history. After five losses and one draw, they had scored only once since their season opener, their usual defensive sturdiness undercut by inconsistency and inability to maintain their intensity across 90 minutes. Still, they arrived with hope of an imminent momentum shift.
This was an enormous opportunity for both teams, which they demonstrated from the beginning by starting with a shared frantic, nervous intensity. Graham Potter finally offered a first start at Brighton for new signing Danny Welbeck, a fallen star who is desperate to put his career back on track after two painful years since breaking his ankle at Arsenal, a time when he was still part of the England squad.
The decision almost immediately paid off. Within seconds of kick-off, Welbeck was flitting up the right flank without a care in the world, leaving Ben Mee for dead. He provided Tariq Lamptey with a perfect cut-back inside the box. From close range, Lamptey lost his composure and belted his strike well over the bar.
Just a few minutes later across the pitch, Matt Lowton picked up the ball in a sea of space, and sent a message to the home side as he attempted to whip in a cross. Instead, it flew towards goal and kissed the crossbar. As the game settled, it was Dyche’s team that started more progressively and dominated possession, perhaps buoyed by the return of captain Mee after four months and the return of his formidable defensive partnership with James Tarkowski.
As Burnley’s early pressure dissipated, Brighton took control and ended the opening half suffocating Burnley with their quick combinations. Welbeck was sensational for much of his debut, a nightmare for the Burnley defence as he relentlessly stretched them with his smart runs. The 20-year-old Lamptey continued his blazing start to regular Premier League football, tearing up the right side with his intelligence and speed. All the while, Lallana and Pascal Gröss joyfully traded Cruyff turns and controlled so much of the final third, linking the forward players with their slick passing.
And yet, they ended the first half without a goal to reflect their efforts. They provided a glimpse of the fun they may soon have once their new attacking players fully gel, but it was a reminder of the wastefulness that has defined their season so far.
It continued for much of the second half as Brighton camped out within Burnley’s half, generating waves of attacks but failing to penetrate an increasingly resolute Burnley team.
Burnley had their own typical issues to address. As Mee settled down, the Burnley back four became increasingly more organised, blocking countless shots and refusing to grant the space Brighton so desired. But when they picked up the ball in advance positions, they simply could not create anything of note. Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes were stranded, prompting Dyche to replace Barnes with Jay Rodriguez to little effect.
As the clock ticked down, Brighton’s attacks became increasingly disjointed, their quality crumbling as the final passes from Lallana and Gröss. To their credit, Burnley tried to move the ball up the field in the dying minutes, generating a few free-kicks in dangerous positions that fizzled out without note. Both teams badly failed to take advantage of their opportunity, but Burnley will return home more satisfied: they have their second point of the season and move up to 19th place. – Guardian
