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Football
Brighton and Hove Albion
vs Fulham. Premier League.
3: 00pm, Saturday 8th March 2025.
Amex Stadium Attendance: Attendance31, 584.
Report and free match highlights as Brighton beat Fulham 2-1 at the Amex; Joao Pedro's injury-time penalty gave the hosts victory; Raul Jimenez opened the scoring for the visitors; Jan Paul van Hecke equalised for the home side; the hosts move up to sixth, while Fulham stay ninth
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@Richiereds1976
Saturday 8 March 2025 18: 26, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Joao Pedro's injury-time penalty saw Brighton beat Fulham 2-1 at the Amex as Fabian Hurzeler's side moved up to sixth place in the Premier League. With the clock past the allocated five minutes of stoppage time, substitute Harrison Reed rashly caught Pedro as the forward nipped in to win possession near the byline, with referee Sam Barrott immediately pointing to the spot. Pedro kept his cool to beat Bernd Leno and score in three consecutive league matches for the first time, despite the Fulham No 1 diving the right way and getting a hand to the penalty, as Brighton won a fourth successive top-flight game for the first time in almost 44 years, as well as registering a first-ever Premier League victory over the Cottagers. Brighton: Verbruggen (6), Webster (7), Hinshelwood (6), Van Hecke (7), Estupinan (6), Baleba (6), Ayari (7), Minteh (7), Rutter (7), Mitoma (7), Pedro (8)
Subs: March (6), Adingra (7), Welbeck (6), Gomez (6), Wieffer (6)
Fulham: Leno (6), Diop (5), Andersen (6), Bassey (6), Robinson (6), Castagne (6), Berge (6), Iwobi (8), Smith Rowe (6), Pereira (6), Jimenez (7)
Subs: Reed (6), Muniz (6), Willian (6), Sessegnon (6)
Player of the Match: Joao Pedro Brighton made two alterations from the side that beat Bournemouth last time out, with Jack Hinshelwood replacing full-back Tariq Lamptey -who served a one-match ban following his red card at Newcastle - while Yasin Ayari came in for Diego Gomez, who was benched.
As for the visitors, boss Marco Silva made five changes from the team that won 2-1 at Wolves in their last fixture, with midfielder Sasa Lukic starting a two-game Premier League ban after picking up 10 yellow cards and forward Adama Traore missed out after injuring his ankle against Manchester United last weekend.
That meant starts for Antonee Robinson, Calvin Bassey, Alex Iwobi, Emile Smith Rowe and Raul Jimenez, with Rodrigo Muniz, Ryan Sessegnon and Jorge Cuenca all dropping to the bench. These two evenly matched sides had come into the game in impressive form, although for large parts of the contest they cancelled each other out in the south-coast sunshine. It was Alex Iwobi and Raul Jimenez who combined to open the scoring for the visitors as the former made a lung-busting 60-yard run down the right flank, before sending in a high cross that the Mexico striker did brilliantly to chest down and then beat Bart Verbruggen with a low drive at his near post. The lead lasted just over five minutes, however, as Brighton soon levelled through Jan Paul van Hecke's first goal for the club, with the tall centre back rising high to head home Yasin Ayari's looping free kick as Fulham's defence went to sleep. In a cagey second period, the closest either team came to grabbing a winner was when the unmarked Kaoru Mitoma tapped home at the far post after a lovely passing move, only for the flag to immediately go up to correctly judge Yankuba Minteh offside after being released by Pedro, before Simon Adingra also saw a late effort ruled out for offside.
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That was until the late drama, though, with the three points moving Brighton level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea, albeit having now played a game more than the Blues, while Fulham stay ninth. Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler: "We are pleased, because for every Premier League game, to get the wins is so tough. These are the things we have to continue doing. "There is not momentum. I understand why every game is a new challenge. We have to enjoy today, enjoy tomorrow, and then focus on the next challenge. " Fulham boss Marco Silva: "It's a difficult one to take, to lose like we lost. But that's the reality. It's football. We gave them two moments. "The first half from us was a good level, the second half I disagree. When the game was really quiet and we were completely in control, we conceded a goal from a free-kick. "We gave them a chance. And then it was not a good second half from us. It's clearly our fault that we lost the game. "I'm not complaining [about the penalty]. A clever striker felt contact and won the penalty. "We expect this type of striker to do his job. If it was my side I'd ask for a penalty. " Correctly predict six scorelines for a chance to win £250, 000 for free. Entries by 3pm Saturday.
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