Brighton win at Fulham? It would be a Christmas Miracle

There was a time not so long ago when Brighton playing Fulham guaranteed three points for the Albion no matter how badly they played.

The 2016-17 Championship promotion campaign was built on it. A pair of 2-1 victories with the second at Craven Cottage being a particularly memorable smash-and-grab.

Brighton resembled something which looked like a football team for all of 90 seconds on that cold winter’s day. They scored twice in that time through a Tomer Hemed penalty and Lewis Dunk, who somehow found himself in an attacking position during open play to tap home a rebound.

Fulham were miles, miles, miles better over the other 88 minutes and 30 seconds, plus whatever injury time was added. And just to add to the daylight robbery, David Stockdale saved a penalty against his former club.

We now know how the Albion got away with five consecutive wins over Fulham between 2014 and 2017. They did a deal with lady luck, exchanging all the good fortune which might be spread over two decades and condensing it into two-and-a-bit years.

What else can explain the fact that Brighton have not tasted victory against the Cottagers since that aforementioned Dunk and Stockdale inspired win in West London? If you want to feel particularly old, the eighth anniversary of which is on January 3rd.

The tables started turning in January 2019 when the Albion surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 at Craven Cottage.

Dunk and Shane Duffy were tormented by Aleksandar Mitrovic, looking like terrified ants who have just spotted a human towering above them brandishing a kettle of boiling water.

Brighton never really recovered from the psychological blow of what happened that night. Chris Hughton oversaw only two more Premier League wins all season as confidence and belief ebbed away.

It was the beginning of the end for the popular promotion winning manager, who was sacked at the end of the campaign.

No prizes for guessing what happened when Brighton and Fulham next crossed swords in the lockdown season, at the height of Glow Up Graham delivering his xG nightmare. Two 0-0 draws.

Next came a 2-0 defeat at the Cottage in August 2022. Potter’s final away game before slithering off to Chelsea.

Dunk in particular seems to suffer at Fulham – penance for his winner in 2017, presumably- and he stuck a comical own goal past Robert Sanchez to complete another miserable night.

Roberto De Zerbi was in charge when Fulham visited the Amex six months later. Now, I’m not saying it was an afternoon which didn’t go according to plan for Brighton.

But De Zerbi was sent off after the final whistle. He said of referee Darren England afterwards: “I think he’s not a good level of referee. But I think the referees in the Premier League are not enough for this very important league.”

And just to round off a memorable rant nicely, De Zerbi took a swipe at PGMOL chief Howard Webb too for wasting his time in a meeting the previous week.

“If you want to come to me to have a meeting and if you want me to lose two hours of my time, of my work, you have to have a different attitude on the pitch.”

“If you want to improve football, they have to be with another attitude, only this. One time I lost time with the meeting and it will never happen again. I am not in England just to be fooled around by the meetings.”

Oh, and somewhere in amongst all the drama was a 1-0 win to Fulham. Of course there was. Who had only one shot on target. Of course they did.

A 1-1 draw followed when the Cottagers next visited Brighton before arguably the piece de resistance back in March.

With injuries biting and one eye on Thursday night in Rome, De Zerbi selected an extremely strange team, including Jan Paul van Hecke in midfield.

“Never mind that we lost 3-0,” we all said leaving Fulham that day. “It’s a worthwhile sacrifice if the squad is well rested and gets a result against Roma.”

Final score in Rome: Roma 4-0 Brighton. Cue another De Zerbi meltdown post-match, saying everyone including the board needed to learn lessons from a lack of squad depth costing the Albion in Europe.

One does not publicly criticise Tony Bloom and Paul Barber, so De Zerbi had cooked his own goose with that moment.

He was gone at the end of the season… followed by a £193 million summer spending spree. The board heard De Zerbi, they just didn’t like him saying it.

This is all a bit depressing, isn’t it? We’ve basically pinpointed defeats at Fulham as pivotal in starting the journey towards Hughton and De Zerbi getting sacked. And Potter walked one game after losing at the Cottage.

How much longer can this luckless run against the Cottagers go on? Fabian Hurzeler will be hoping not very, given what has happened to his three predecessors.

Anyway, enjoy the trip to everyone who is making it. Might have to sink a few extra pints beforehand though, just to be on the safe side…