Brighton 0-0 Fulham: Dunk blocks his way to top of player ratings

Where would the Albion be without Lewis Dunk? That is the question Seagulls fans everywhere were asking following Dunk’s last minute heroics which earned him top spot in the Brighton player ratings for the 0-0 draw against Fulham.

We had suffered an all too familiar 90 minutes at the Amex. Brighton had played well but squandered five or six easy opportunities and as such were heading towards a stalemate with the Cottagers.

Then in the final seconds, Fulham launched a rare attack. Ruben Loftus-Cheek found himself free at the back post and when his drilled effort beat Robert Sanchez, it looked nailed on to hit the back of the net and turn a disappointing draw for Brighton into an embarrassing defeat.

Dunk though had other ideas. He read the situation perfectly to get back on the line and then managed to contort his body to just about keep Loftus-Cheek’s shot out.

It was a stunning goal line block which if Virgil van Dijk makes is shown on Sky Sports News once every 20 minutes for the next four months.

Dunk’s excellence at one end was sadly not matched by his teammates at the other. This was probably the worst game Brighton have had in front of goal in the 2020-21 season and that is saying something.

Neal Maupay should have had a brace at the very least but he could only fire over when one-on-one with Alphonse Areola and then failed to turn in a low cross from Ben White who had come rampaging forward from the back three.

Two equally poor first half misses from Leandro Trossard meant that the Albion’s strike duo finished miles adrift of any of their colleagues at the bottom of the ratings with nearly a whole point separating Adam Webster on 6.48 with Trossard on 5.42. Maupay was – controversially in our eyes – even further back on 5.24.

Here are the full ratings for all 11 Albion players – Graham Potter was surprisingly reluctant to use his bench – who starred in Brighton 0-0 Fulham.

Robert Sanchez – 6.52
The young goalkeeper was so well protected that he did not have a single save of any note to make. Some smart distribution but he was nowhere near as dominating of his box as he was away at The Leeds United.

Ben White – 6.81
Returned to the back three after topping the player ratings at The Leeds United for his display in midfield. Defended well and surged forward when he could, including when he got to the by-line in the second half and his low cross should have been converted by Maupay.

LEWIS DUNK – 7.86
Without that outrageous block on the line in the final seconds, the Albion would have suffered an embarrassing 1-0 defeat. As important as any goal that Brighton will score at the other end this season and enough to see him top the player ratings for the 0-0 draw against Fulham by a big margin of 0.56.

Adam Webster – 6.48
Shifted across to left sided centre back to allow White to step back into defence on the right. We know he struggles there so it was no surprise to see one calamitous first half moment when he allowed Fulham to break. Thankfully, Ivan Cavaleiro fired wide. Still managed a couple of marauding runs out of defence despite being on his weaker side.

Joel Veltman – 6.86
Another classy performance from the Dutch international who continues to do an underrated job deputising for Tariq Lamptey. It was his pass which set Maupay away to tee up Trossard for the first glaring miss of the game and he showed great intelligence with a quickly taken free kick which led to the second half chance Maupay blasted over.

Yves Bissouma – 7.10
The only player other than Dunk to register a score over seven. Helped to steady the ship after Fulham recorded over 70% possession in the first 12 minutes, getting his foot on the ball and allowing the Albion to reassert some control.

Pascal Gross – 6.81
There was complete shock when he appeared to outpace an actual Premier League player at one point. Less surprising was that his set piece delivery was superb all evening, including the first half free kick which Dunk should have scored from with a free header. Went close himself with a drilled free kick which beat the wall but was just the wrong side of Areola’s post.

Solly March – 6.95
Might have scored were it not for a fine block from the back of the wonderfully named Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa during a scramble late in the second half. You could sense Fulham were worried every time he got on the ball, which says much for the season that he is having.

Alexis Mac Allister – 6.76
Not quite as good as he has been in recent weeks. It was still a surprise that he was the man to make way for Davy Propper when Potter made his only change of the game in the final 10 minutes. Showed some quality touches, especially with a lovely around-the-corner flick from Veltman’s quickly taken free kick which took out two Fulham defenders to put Maupay in one-on-one with Areola.

Leandro Trossard – 5.52
Missed the first and arguably best chance of the evening when Maupay’s unselfish play found him front and centre of the goal with just Areola to beat. Unfortunately, he put his effort straight at the Fulham goalkeeper. Squandered another opportunity just after that and never seemed to recover.

Neal Maupay – 5.24
Based on his misses, then he deserves such a low score as he should have had a brace at the very least. It still seems harsh to us though as everything else he did throughout the 90 minutes was spot on, from his approach play, his decision making and his work rate.

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.