Halfway through the season and Europe on the cards for Brighton

We have now passed the halfway mark in the 2022-23 season with European football still very much a possibility for Brighton through both the Premier League and the FA Cup.

Leicester City are a club who know a thing or too about that, having regularly played in the Europa League and won at Wembley two years ago.

Saturday’s outing for those lucky enough to be able to attend was to the King Power Stadium. Brendan Rodgers’ side had been on a bad run of late but they still posed enough of a threat to punish the Albion should Brighton make a mistake, as sometimes is the case.

Rodgers is no fool and a very astute tactician. We saw he had studied Roberto De Zerbi’s style of play and did not want his players to commit to closing down, avoiding the Albion playing around them as they have so many teams since De Zerbi took over.

Foxes are cunning and they wait for the right time to pounce. Leicester certainly did that, making the 2-2 draw Brighton came away with a valuable point.

Still nursing my sprained ankle, I set myself up once again with BBC Radio Sussex broadcast. Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall were reporting live from a cold but bright and sunny Leicester, where Jan Paul Van Hecke was in the back four for his Premier League debut alongside Lewis Dunk, Pascal Gross and Pervis Estupinan.

Having watched plenty of other Premier League sides since the winter break on television, Brighton most be one of the best for current style of play.

Not only that, but they are playing so well so consistently. At some point the Albion will surely have an off-day but for now, that does not seem to be happening.

Victory at the King Power would lift Brighton into fifth and a draw to sixth after Liverpool and Chelsea drew 0-0 in the lunchtime game.

Estupinan was marking his 25th birthday, so happy birthday Pervis! A football-related milestone is approaching for Dunk too, with Jonnny reporting that this was his 395th appearance for the Seagulls.

Five more and he joins a small club of players with over 400 games for the club. What a Captain he is, what a rock he has been. Long may he continue.

Over 3000 Brighton fans travelled to the King Power and they could be heard loud and clear over the airwaves. Our commentators explained the Albion were keeping possession for the first few minutes and controlling the game as they settled into their normal rhythm.

Robert Sanchez and Dunk had to defend a cross which Dennis Praet could not quite get to Jamie Vardy, thank goodness. That could have been dangerous.

My ears pricked up when I heard Mitoma had the ball down the flank and was weaving into the penalty area. Timothy Castagne did really well to clear the ball off Mitoma for a Albion corner, which Gross found the head of Van Hecke with. He could not quite get the required angle on the header and over the bar it went for a Leicester goal kick.

It was another Mitoma run on 27 minutes which opened the scoring and meant my settee springs took another bashing. Mitoma cut in from the left and bent the ball into the top right hand corner for an absolute pearlier. The sort of finish you could watch back 100 times and it never gets out.

However, the 1-0 lead only lasted for some 11 minutes. Praet had gone off injured to be replaced by Marc Albrighton, who needed only two minutes to find the back of the Albion bet.

Joel Veltman – himself a replacement for the injured Adam Lallana – and Dunk deflected away two Leicester attempts. The ball fell kindly to Albrighton, who stuck it underneath Sanchez to make it 1-1 going into half time.

Brighton should have had a penalty early in the second half when some impressive football including a fantastic back flick from Gross put Danny Welbeck into the area.

As Welbeck turned, his foot was kicked and he was brought down. Referee Thomas Bramall did nothing and neither did VAR.

The replay showed it to be a clear penalty and the pundits on Match of the Day later in the evening agreed. De Zerbi remonstrated quite rightly whilst Warren said he thought Mr Bramall must have left his yellow and red cards in the locker room.

Cleary he hadn’t, as De Zerbi was booked for protesting! There were other calls during the match which went overly in Leicester’s favour, infuriating Warren to the point that he said: “The only way you would get handball from referee Bramall is if you tried to take out the laces from the football!”

The Japanese Bullet Train Mitoma was off on another run again, racing into the area to set up a perfect chance for Solly March which only needed slotting home. Unlike last week against Liverpool, March skied that one right over the top of the bar.

That missed proved costly when Leicester broke and Harvey Barnes took a shot deflected for a corner. The delivery came right towards the back post where Van Hecke swung a foot at it and missed.

Barnes was therefore left totally free to volley past Sanchez and Brighton were 2-1 down against the run of play, really.

The Albion now had 27 minutes to find an equaliser. Danny Ward saved from March and Tariq Lamptey shot too high from a Gross set up.

Next it was Alexis Mac Allister’s turn as some nice footwork took him past three Leicester players to pull the trigger. Ward though saved with his legs.

Brighton were becoming more relentless. You cannot put into to words the grit and determination this current Albion team have; as Winston Churchill once said, “never ever give up” and they certainly do not ever give up.

A great cross in from Estupinan found the tall towering figure of young Evan Ferguson, who headed into the far corner leaving Ward helpless to make it 2-2 in the 88th minute.

Not only did Brighton believe that they could equalise, but they also believed that they could now win it. Ferguson did not celebrate, instead grabbing the ball and running straight to the centre spot. The Albion are not done yet is what our teenager was saying, let’s go again!

Had there been more than a few minutes remaining, I think Brighton would have gone onto win. Instead, it finished 2-2 and the Albion headed home in sixth spot in the table.

Warren was full of praise for Ferguson afterwards, even reporting that he was with the subs going through their routines after the final whistle. What enthusiasm the lad has to match the talent which we all hope will turn him into a great player.

As we say goodbye to Leandro Trossard, a door of opportunity opens for another player. The way that Brighton can seamlessly replace anyone who leaves means that Tony Bloom and Paul Barber deserve all our trust.

Roll on Liverpool in the FA Cup next week, where another route to Europe lies. I am starting to save for Wembley, so fingers crossed everyone!

Up the Albion.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony