Southampton 0-4 Brighton: Top ratings for Rutter in St Mary’s show

The Saints banana skin did not prove as slippery as many Albion fans feared. In fact, it was distinctly unslippery. Meaning a strong set of player ratings from Southampton 0-4 Brighton.

Whilst the hosts were arguably the poorest team Brighton have faced in their eight Premier League seasons so far, the Seagulls deserve a lot of credit for the way they took advantage.

That is reflected in all four Albion attackers racking up scorers higher than an eight. Georginio Rutter leads the ways with the highest rating of the lot, just ahead of Joao Pedro, Kaoru Mitoma and Yankubu Minteh.

Some of the link up play going forward was magnificent at times. Brighton were able to carve through Southampton at will and if the Saints had a lesser goalkeeper than the inspired Aaron Ramsdale between the posts, would have racked up a cricket score.

The Albion subsequently find themselves back in the thick of the race for Europe. Here are your Southampton 0-4 Brighton player ratings from a fine afternoon at St Mary’s.

Bart Verbruggen – 7.14

Kept one cross-shot out on 37 minutes which proved enough to earn back-to-back Premier League clean sheets. Otherwise pretty untroubled by a Saints side who offered almost as little going forward as Chelsea last weekend.

Jack Hinshelwood – 7.71

Dropped in at right back to cover for the unavailable Joel Veltman. His ability to seamlessly switch between positions is quite incredible for one so young and should be piquing the interest of Thomas Tuchel ahead of the March internationals. Scoring the fourth goal was the icing on the cake.

Jan Paul van Hecke – 7.86

Southampton looked most threatening – not that it is saying much – down the flanks. Virtually every cross they delivered into the box though was repelled by Van Hecke.

Adam Webster – 7.29

Wore the armband in the absence of Lewis Dunk and Danny Welbeck. Another faultless display and a result he will have particularly enjoyed having come through the ranks at Portsmouth.

Tariq Lamptey – 6.86

Fabian Hurzeler opting to keep Lamptey at left back and use Hinshelwood at right back reflected how well Lamptey has done on his unnatural side in the absence of Pervis Estupinan. Not as electric here as in the two Chelsea games but still an important part of a defence which proved unbreachable.

Carlos Baleba – 8.29

The forward foursome took most of the praise but Baleba also joined them in the Southampton 0-4 Brighton player ratings eight club. Total powerhouse in midfield and deserved to score with an effort which came back of the post.

Yasin Ayari – 6.86

Not as prominent as Baleba. But Ayari doing all the dirty work undoubtedly played a part in Baleba shining so bright. The Swede probably should have an assist his name when a wonderful cross at 0-0 was put wide by Mitoma.

Yankubu Minteh – 8.00

Minteh is absolute box office for the right and wrong reasons. And that is why I love him. Fell over his own leg when one-on-one with Ramsdale. Somehow missed an open goal from 10 yards out. Yet in between all that played the best pass of the afternoon with his outside of the boot cross converted by Rutter.

GEORGINIO RUTTER – 8.71

Southampton did not know what to do with him. Showed strength and vision to shrug off some rough treatment and release Pedro for the first goal. Won back possession, set Minteh away and then got on the end of the resulting cross to score the second. An absolute menace who now looks worth every penny of the club-record £40 million Brighton paid The Leeds United in the summer. Oh, and he even showed his love for the 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up by doing The Leeds Salute at Saints fans after scoring. Southampton having beaten Leeds in last season’s Championship playoff final.

Kaoru Mitoma – 8.29

Five goals in seven appearances now since interest in Mitoma from the Saudi Sportswashing League first emerged. If he carries on like this, Brighton will be inundated with summer offers from clubs who can provide the Champions League football Mitoma has dreamed of.

Joao Pedro – 8.43

Led the line with Welbeck injured. This was easily his best performance as a number nine this season, resulting in a brilliant goal dinked over Ramsdale to open the scoring and an assist when sending Mitoma racing clear for the second.

Diego Gomez – 7.14

Must have been a tight call for Hurzeler between starting Ayari alongside Baleba or handing a full debut to Gomez. The January signing did his cause for inclusion in the XI against Plucky Little Bournemouth on Tuesday night no harm with his 25 minutes or so off the bench.

Pervis Estupinan – 6.14

First minutes under the belt for Estupinan since his January injury setback.

Simon Adingra – 6.00

Did not have the impact of the Albion’s other wide players once he was brought on from the bench.

Brajan Gruda – 6.57

His corner delivery sewed enough chaos and confusion in the Southampton box for Hinshelwood to pounce and fire home the fourth. Brighton scoring from an actual set piece was arguably a bigger surprise than Brighton not cocking things up against an opponent with nine points from a possible 78 to their name.

Mats Wieffer – 6.14

Like Estupinan, this was his first appearance since injury. Sent on for the final five plus injury time when the game had descended into walking football.

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