Just when Brighton fans thought they would not hear of xG again…
A great display from Brighton, countless good moments, two disallowed goals, 10 corners, an xG of 2.3… and a 1-0 defeat to Fulham.
Fans of the Seagulls might have thought they were back watching a Graham Potter team again. But no, this was a Roberto De Zerbi Brighton team not scoring or making their dominance count. Something that until now would have sounded like an oxymoron.
The Seagulls had at one point recently been the Premier League team scoring the most goals of anyone. Those days when xG and Brighton were linked like husband and wife seemed over.
Losing to Fulham reminded us that football is not the fairest sport in the world. It naturally involves and requires skill, but luck and efficiency always play a key role.
Brighton were sixth in the table and Fulham seventh. The Seagulls were looking for three points to continue their wild unbeaten run in 2023.
Marco Silva’s side were bidding to make it a third straight win in all competitions. The stage was set for an important game at the Amex.
It turned out to be a game of contrasting styles. Brighton were truly outstanding and had 17 shots, seven on target. It was all-out attack from Seagulls.
Fulham played a different way. They defended and blocked everything and when they didn’t, Bernd Leno was behind to save what went through.
They wanted to run down the time and score from one or two attempts. Fulham managed two in total and from an xG of 0.3, Manor Solomon scored the 88th minute winner.
The goal came in part from Brighton’s desire to attack. Joel Veltman and Lewis Dunk were the only two Seagulls defenders back. Solomon had a lot of space to run into and only Robert Sanchez to beat.
Brighton’s possession ended on 66 percent. Sanchez spent most of the game as a mere observer. Yet Fulham took all three points back to London with them. One phase of a play is enough in such cases to do damage.
The Seagulls have been clinical enough under De Zerbi to be allowed a bad day or two in front of goal. They will not go longer than 90 days at the Amex without scoring for the home crowd, as happened last season.
Defeat to Fulham showed that Premier League football is not as easy as De Zerbi has made it look. That scoring four past Chelsea or three past Liverpool is a tremendous achievement.
That qualifying for Europe would be big. And that even with De Zerbi unlocking goals from Solly March, Kaoru Mitoma and Evan Ferguson, xG can still haunt us on occasions.
Dimitris Manakos @dimitris_manakos / England365.gr
