Brighton 2-0 Bournemouth: Aaron Mooy stars in Seagulls' key win

Report and highlights as Brighton beat Bournemouth with goals from Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Aaron Mooy

Peter Smith

Senior Football Journalist @psmithXI

Saturday 28 December 2019 20:52, UK

Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Aaron Mooy scored their first goals for Brighton to earn an important 2-0 win for Graham Potter's side against south-coast rivals Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Iranian club-record signing finally got off the mark in his 27th appearance by firing home inside three minutes - Brighton's fastest goal in Premier League history.

Brighton thought they'd scored a second when Dan Burn hooked in from close range on 58 minutes but his strike was overturned by VAR for a marginal offside call against the left-back in the build-up.

However, Mooy eventually doubled the advantage (79) when he showed some fine control in the box before bending home from 15 yards.

The result moves Brighton five points clear of the relegation zone, while Bournemouth have now lost seven of their last nine and have just a two-point gap on third-bottom Aston Villa.

How Brighton won the south coast battle

Brighton had won just one of their last eight themselves, but started quickly, forcing a corner inside a minute and they made the breakthrough moments later.

The impressive Mooy fed Neal Maupay in the box who teed up Jahanbakhsh to blast in a low shot. There were emotional celebrations for Jahanbakhsh, who joined the Seagulls for £17m in July 2018 but had failed to reproduce the scoring form he'd previously shown in Holland.

Brighton 'keeper Mat Ryan then saved well from Josh King before the hosts almost made it two on 10 minutes when Mooy and Maupay combined again and the latter fired over the bar.

Brighton continued to threaten on the break as Bournemouth began to get a foothold in the game but the home side's Burn did well to block a Harry Wilson shot on the edge of the box just after the half-hour mark before a Junior Stanislas effort deflected kindly into Ryan's hands.

VAR Graham Scott was busy after the break. First, Burn escaped punishment for a clash with Wilson, who got an accidental kick to the head, and then both on-field ref Paul Tierney and the VAR rejected Dominic Solanke's penalty appeals when he went down under a challenge from Lewis Dunk in the Brighton box.

Most decisively, though, VAR denied Burn what would have been his first-ever Brighton goal when replays showed the left-back had narrowly advanced offside from Mooy's free-kick.

VAR then took centre stage again on 75 minutes, when Jack Stacey was adjudged not to have handled in the Bournemouth box.

But happily Mooy returned the focus to the players with a fine finish on 79 minutes, chesting down a cross, stepping inside his man and bending the ball past Bournemouth 'keeper Aaron Ramsdale to secure the victory and notch his first for the club.

Brighton were then able to see out the final stages comfortably, with Bournemouth reduced to 10 men when Stacey limped off on 81 minutes after Eddie Howe had used all of his subs.

What the managers said...

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Brighton boss Graham Potter says he's delighted with Potter pleased with Alireza Jahanbakhsh's contribution and work ethic for the Seagulls as the Iranian winger bagged his first Premier League goal for Brighton

Graham Potter, Brighton: "I thought we deserved the three points. It was a really good performance, great understanding. We've had a frustrating period so it was important to get the three points. You can talk about performances all you want but it's about points as well and it's nice to get them. Alireza has been frustrated because he wants to play football but his approach has been perfect and I'm really pleased for him."

Eddie Howe, Bournemouth: "No complaints. I thought we took time to settle into the game. In the first 10 minutes I thought we weren't at our best and we conceded the goal. I thought for the rest of the first half we were pretty good, had some good chances, some good moments. The second half was tough for us. I thought Brighton played very well but we kept giving them possession and then it became a difficult half, especially when we went to 10 men."

Opta stats

Brighton have won four of their last seven Premier League home games (D1 L2), as many as they'd won in their previous 18 at the Amex stadium.
Since the start of the 2015-16 season, only Watford (50) have lost more Premier League away games than Bournemouth (47).
Only Liverpool (16) have had more different goalscorers (excl. own-goals) in the Premier League this season than Brighton (11).
Brighton's Alireza Jahanbakhsh became the third Iranian player to score in Premier League history (also Ashkan Dejagah and Andranik Teymourian) and the first since Dejagah in April 2014.
Brighton's Alireza Jahanbakhsh netted his first goal in 1552 minutes of action in all competitions since his debut for the Seagulls in August 2018 - the Iranian netted with his 38th shot.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh's opener was Brighton's fastest ever goal in the Premier League, netting after just two minutes and 29 seconds.
Brighton's Aaron Mooy ended a run of 17 Premier League appearances without a goal, netting his first for the Seagulls in the process.
Neal Maupay has been directly involved in more Premier League goals this season than any other Brighton and Hove Albion player (7 goals, 1 assist).