How it happened: Norwich City 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
The anticipation over the return of the Premier League following the international break finally came to an end as Brighton & Hove Albion resumed their so-far excellent 2021-22 season away at Norwich City.
Brighton’s starting XI featured several players who had represented their national teams and had come back hungry for domestic success in game week eight of the Premier League campaign. Here is How it Happened:
Despite this being an away fixture for Brighton, the game kicked off with Graham Potter’s team looking to capitalise on the struggles that have left Norwich rock bottom of the table.
A couple of early chances were exchanged between the teams but nobody could alter the scoreboard in the opening 20 minutes.
Neal Maupay appealed for a penalty but without any success after he dribbled past Tim Krul and even though the Norwich goalkeeper made contact, it was deemed not enough for a spot kick.
Further promising attempts were made by the Seagulls, forcing Krul into a few more saves. Leandro Trossard nearly had the away section going wild with a superb volley which almost broke the deadlock just before half time but unfortunately, it struck the cross bar
Norwich made a strong response to that when Josh Sargent found himself with an open goal chance, only for the comeback star of the season Shane Duffy to make a goal saving clearance to ensure the half time score remained level.
The second half was 15 minutes old when we saw the exciting return of Tariq Lamptey, stepping up again and representing the blue and white after 10 months out.
Lamptey replaced Joel Veltman as Potter sought to inject a raised intensity to the game out on the flanks, with Solly March also coming on for Marc Cucurella in the other wing back position.
The two teams remained on par going into the closing stages. Brighton managed to put together a couple of late chances, captain Lewis Dunk going close with a headed attempt from a Pascal Gross free kick.
Not long after, a Maupay strike edged just over the bar when it looked like three points might have been secured by the Albion. Instead, it finished on an even peel at Norwich 0-0 Brighton.
A point each was probably a fair result and enough to take the Seagulls onto 15 for the season, moving them above Manchester United in the table to carry on this magnificent start to their campaign.
Looking forward, a couple of very difficult fixtures lie ahead in the shape of Manchester City at home and Liverpool away.
Given the form that Potter has his squad currently experiencing, those look set to be an exciting couple of matches which will really tell us how good this Albion side are. Stay tuned for more How it Happened.
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