Brighton 2-0 Bournemouth: Seagulls earn first win in five

Alireza Jahanbakhsh gave the hosts, who felt unfortunate not to take points off Tottenham on Boxing Day, the perfect start, striking within the opening three minutes.

Brighton thought they'd extended their lead in the second period, but VAR ruled out Dan Burn's goal for the tightest of offside calls.

But the home side were not to be denied a second nor the victory as Aaron Mooy claimed a superb goal with 11 minutes reminding.

The Australian international collected a chipped pass in the box, chesting down and flicking the ball away from a defender with the outside of his boot before curling it into the far post.

For the injury ravaged visitors they've now scored just seven goals in their last 13 matches and have just two wins in 14 Premier League contests.

Match Highlights

Less than three minutes after the game kicked off, Jahanbakhsh weaved through the Bournemouth defence and struck the ball past Aaron Ramsdale to give his side an early lead, before falling to the ground in tears as he became the third Iranian to find the net in the Premier League.

The Cherries almost struck back immediately, with Mathew Ryan forced into a diving save to prevent Joshua King from finding the far corner after he was cleverly played in by Diego Rico.

Both sides enjoyed periods of possession after the opener, with Mooy running the midfield for Brighton, but clear-cut opportunities proved hard to come by.

The home side appeared to have doubled their lead at the start of the second half after the Cherries' defence were unable to clear the ball, which fell to the towering Burn who took a touch before turning and slotting past Ramsdale.

Referee Paul Tierney awarded the goal only for VAR to undertake a lengthy review for offside, and left-back Burn was denied his first for the Seagulls.

Brighton came close to striking again just moments later, as Yves Bissouma drove into the box, and his low drive beat the goalkeeper but rebounded back off the post.

VAR intervened for a second time at the 75-minute mark for a possible handball by Jack Stacey, with the referee's original decision upheld and no spot-kick awarded.

However, Mooy doubled his side's lead in the 79th minute.

The 29-year-old, on loan from Huddersfield, controlled the ball from Leandro Trossard on his chest, before taking it away from the defender and steering home.

Bournemouth had made all of their substitutions and had to finish the game with 10 men after Stacey was forced from the field through injury.

OPTA Stats

• Brighton have won four of their last seven Premier League home games (D1 L2), as many as they’d won in their previous 18 at the Amex stadium.
• Since the start of the 2015-16 season, only Watford (50) have lost more Premier League away games than Bournemouth (47).
• Only Liverpool (16) have had more different goalscorers (excl. own-goals) in the Premier League this season than Brighton (11).
• Brighton’s Alireza Jahanbakhsh became the third Iranian player to score in Premier League history (also Ashkan Dejagah and Andranik Teymourian) and the first since Dejagah in April 2014.
• Brighton’s Alireza Jahanbakhsh netted his first goal in 1552 minutes of action in all competitions since his debut for the Seagulls in August 2018 – the Iranian netted with his 38th shot.
• Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s opener was Brighton’s fastest ever goal in the Premier League, netting after just two minutes and 29 seconds.
• Brighton’s Aaron Mooy ended a run of 17 Premier League appearances without a goal, netting his first for the Seagulls in the process.
• Neal Maupay has been directly involved in more Premier League goals this season than any other Brighton and Hove Albion player (7 goals, 1 assist).