Brighton 1-1 Southampton: Mitoma dazzles in disappointing ratings

Brighton became the first opposition side to drop points when hosting Southampton this season after the sides drew 1-1 at the Amex, making this a disappointing set of player ratings.

Except for one man, that is. Kaoru Mitoma dazzled down the left on his way to being the only Albion player to score above a seven.

Mitoma headed home the opening goal on the half hour mark and was at the heart of most good things Brighton whilst dominating the first half.

In an all-too-familiar story, however, the Seagulls were unable to turn that domination into goals.

And they were made to pay for that profligacy when Flynn Downes levelled for the Saints midway through the second half.

It might have even been worse for Brighton. Cameron Archer had a goal controversially ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check, denying Saints victory.

Here are you Brighton 1-1 Southampton player ratings.

Bart Verbruggen – 6.57

Southampton did not necessarily live up to their reputation as a passing side, often throwing hopeful crosses into the Brighton box. Verbruggen commanded his area confidently to deal with it and there was nothing he could do about the Saints goal either.

Tariq Lamptey – 6.17

A surprise inclusion with Joel Veltman unexpectedly absent. Question marks over his defensive display but he was a real threat going forward. Delivered the cross converted by Mitoma which gave Brighton the lead.

Jan Paul van Hecke – 5.57

The most confident person in the stadium that Adam Armstrong was offside and interfering with play for the disallowed Southampton goal.

Igor Julio – 5.57

Igor, Igor, Igor! Big decision from Fabian Hurzeler to stick with the Brazilian centre back alongside Van Hecke and name Lewis Dunk on the bench. Got dragged out of position a few times but probably didn’t do enough wrong to lose his place for Thursday night’s trip to Fulham.

Pervis Estupinan – 6.00

Estupinan enjoyed an intriguing battle with Tyler Dibling, the 18-year-old Saints winger who has been the biggest positive this season for Southampton on their Premier League return.

Matt O’Riley – 5.86

Hurzeler presumably selected O’Riley to replace the suspended Carlos Baleba because of his experience at Celtic in breaking down opponents who sit back and defend. Solid if unspectacular showing on his full Premier League debut.

Yasin Ayari – 6.29

The second highest score in the Brighton 1-1 Southampton ratings belonged to the young Swedish midfielder. Played with more energy than we have seen this season which helped make up for the absence of Baleba in the first half. Faded a bit after the break but you could not blame him for that.

Georginio Rutter – 6.14

Had two good chances in the opening 15 minutes to put the Albion ahead. Fired the first just wide and crashed the other against a post, both from gliding runs which he made look effortless.

Joao Pedro – 5.86

A quiet game compared with his recent standards partly explains why Brighton ended up being held. Even so, Hurzeler replacing Pedro with Simon Adingra seemed like a strange decision with the Albion looking for a winner.

KAORU MITOMA – 7.57

Great awareness and reactions to nod Lamptey’s bouncing cross past Joe Lumley in the Saints goal. Almost beat Lumley before that with an opportunistic lob just wide after Southampton got in a right state trying to play out from the back.

Danny Welbeck – 5.43

Like Pedro, Welbeck was not really at the races and Brighton suffered for it. Closest he came to notching was heading a Mitoma cross off target during the first half.

Lewis Dunk – 5.29

His 250th Premier League appearance was his first ever as a substitute. Headed over with his first touch but the change to a back three instigated by his introduction did not lead to the Albion opening up the visiting defence.

Simon Adingra – 4.86

Put the final chance of the game wide when stretching to convert a cross. Limited impact.

Mats Wieffer – 5.00

Managed to pick up a booking in his 20 minutes on the pitch. Hurzeler introducing him and Dunk when trying to find a winning goal was interesting.

Evan Ferguson – 4.43

Took over from Welbeck for the final 10 minutes. Don’t even know if he touched the ball to be honest.

The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.