Key events
52 min Hill’s long throw is pushed over his own bar by Verbruggen. The corner leads to a shot on the turn from Kroupi that is blocked, then a long-range shot from Scott that is also blocked.
49 min At the other end, Mitoma flashes a lovely curler just wide from the edge of the area. He’s been quiet but that was a fine effort.
48 min A banrstorming run from Jimenez ends with a pass to Kroupi, though I think it was intended for Evanilson. Kroupi looks set to charge straight through the heart of the defence until Van Becke makes a vital challenge.
46 min Bournemouth get the second half under way.
“Rob,” says Niall Mullen. “Was VAR invented by someone who looked at football and thought ‘you know what this activity, that brings joy to millions by reminding them there’s a world beyond the horrors of the world, needs – more admin’?”
Half-time reading
Half time: Brighton 0-1 Bournemouth
Bournemouth have been much the better team and deserve to be in front, even if their goal – a penalty from Marcus Tavernier – was controversial. The first 10 minutes aside, Brighton were nowhere near their best.
45+1 min Three minutes of added time.
45 min Truffert moves down the left and swirls an ultra-inviting cross towards Evanilson, 12 yards out. He hangs in the air for an age and powers a downward header that bounces just wide of the far post. That was a fine effort.
44 min The resulting free-kick is overhit by Gruda, who was trying to cross it to the far post but stuck it behind for a goalkick.
43 min Mitoma beats Jimenez and is fouled 25 yards from goal by Tavernier.
42 min Brighton have a strong home record – only Villa have won here in the league this season – but they’ve been completely outplayed in the last half an hour. When Bournemouth are good…
38 min: Evanilson hits the post!
It might not have counted, as Evanilson looked fractionally offside, but it was another slick move from Bournemouth. Jimenez charged infield from right-back, kept going and stabbed a nice pass through to Evanilson. He dinked the ball over the outrushing Verbruggen and it hit the inside of the far post.
37 min Evanilson slaloms into the area before dragging a tired shot wide of the near post.
36 min Gross’s corner is headed towards goal by Hinshelwood, stooping at the far post, and Petrovic makes a fine instinctive save.
35 min Gross wins a corner for Brighton, who rightly or wrongly are affronted by the manner of Bournemouth’s goal.
GOAL! Brighton 0-1 Bournemouth (Tavernier 32 pen)
Tavernier slots a fine penalty into the bottom-left corner. Verbruggen dived the right way but had no realistic chance of getting to it.
There’s a chorus of boos at the Amex because the incident was shown on one of the screens. The decision could have gone either way so the reaction isn’t entirely proportionate.
30 min: Penalty to Bournemouth
Yep, it’s been given! Adli’s yellow card is rescinded.
29 min The referee has been told to go to the monitor. I thought it might be a ‘referee’s call’ decision but there was definitely contact. The issue is whether the contact was sufficient to knock Adli off his feet; it’s literally debatable.
28 min There’s a VAR check for a potential penalty.
27 min Bournemouth break from a Brighton corner. Tavernier gallops down the left and slides a pass towards Adli in the area. He knocks the ball past Verbruggen and then goes flying – but the referee Paul Tierney books him for diving.
I’d like to see that again because it looked like Verbruggen’s boot caught Adli’s thigh.
24 min Tavernier’s cross is backheaded into his own keeper’s hands by Gross. Not sure he meant it, but all’s well that ends well.
21 min Jimenez skips past Kadioglu on the right only to overhit his cross. It’s been an even game, but that evenness has come from each team dominating a 10-minute spell.
18 min Gomez does well to get between Tavernier and the ball in the Brighton area, though he has to concede another corner. It’s all Bournemouth now.
16 min This is a really good spell for Bournemouth. Tavernier storms past Kadioglou and cracks an inviting low cross that is turned behind by Van Hecke with Adli waiting behind him to score.
14 min Senesi’s ball over the top is controlled deftly on the run by Evanilson, who then hooks a left-foot shot that is comfortably saved by Verbruggen. Decent effort.
12 min A rare Bournemouth break leads to a corner when Evanilson’s long-range shot deflects behind.
10 min Brighton have had 78 per cent possession so far.
8 min Hinshelwood’s shot from the edge of the area deflects behind. The corner is taken short and worked infield Gruda, whose shot from the edge of the D is pushed away by the diving Petrovic. A fairly comfortable save.
6 min No surprise to see both teams pressing high up the pitch. So far it’s Brighton who are dominating possession.
4 min Kadioglu, playing at left-back tonight, cuts inside and hits a hopeful shot from the left edge of the penalty area. It bounces just in front of Petrovic, who holds on with authority. Good boy.
2 min “I have much interest in the game tonight,” writes Roger Kirkby. “If Bournemouth don’t win tonight, no team in the Premier League will have won their last two games. Something rare in the world of anoraks.”
Blimey. Do you know when it last happened?
1 min Brighton kick off from left to right as we watch, and Bournemouth striker Evanilson immediately sets off for the first press of the evening.
The players are ready to go on what looks a crisp evening in Brighton. Let’s play!
Alexander Abnos
We’re only six months from the biggest single sporting occasion in the world. On 19 July in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the men’s World Cup final will kick off and a champion will be crowned (although it will be hard to top the last one).
The final will be more than a coronation (or confirmation, if Argentina repeat as champions). It will also be a culmination of six weeks of near non-stop soccer played across three countries, four time zones, and 16 cities. It’s likely that conclusions will already be drawn at that point on how the whole tournament fared. But for now, at this semi-convenient milestone, it’s worth taking stock of where we are six months out.
“Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day from across the the pond!” writes Peter Oh. “Doesn’t Amine Adli play for Morocco? If he gets to take a penalty for Bournemouth today I would strongly advise him not to, you know…”
In that scenario I’d be more worried about the Brighton players.
The beautiful game
Team news
Three changes for Brighton from their last Premier League game, a 1-1 draw at Manchester City. Joel Veltman, Brajan Gruda and Danny Welbeck come in for Maxcim De Cuyper, Yasin Ayari and Georginio Rutter. Gruda and Welbeck starred in the FA Cup victory at Old Trafford eight days ago.
Bournemouth make one change from the 3-2 win over Tottenham in their most recent Premier League game: Antoine Semenyo, who joined Manchester City after that game, is replaced by Amine Adli.
Brighton (poss 4-2-3-1) Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu; Hinshelwood, Gross; Gruda, Gomez, Mitoma; Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, Rutter, Minteh, Baleba, Kostoulas, Milner, Boscagli, Ayari, Coppola.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Petrovic; Jimenez, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Cook, Scott; Tavernier, Kroupi, Adli; Evanilson.
Subs: Forster, Christie, Smith, Diakite, Milosavljevic, Rees-Dottin, DaCosta, Sadi, Stevens.
Referee Paul Tierney (Lancashire).
Tonight’s game – please – will surely be quieter than last night’s
Preamble
It’s one of football’s more bittersweet accolades: the unofficial title of the Premier League’s greatest selling club. Sure, it means you’re an excellently run club, unlike most of your peers, and have an enviable scouting network. But it also means you have to constantly regenerate – Bournemouth have inevitably had a tough season – and endure the low-level frustration of watching players you discovered become superstars elsewhere.
In the last year Bournemouth have taken that unofficial title from Brighton, selling five major players for around £250m. The two teams meet at the Amex Stadium tonight, and there will almost certainly be some superstars of the future in action.
Given that both teams are as progressive on the field as they are off it, it should be a good watch.
Kick off 8pm.
