Brighton get their Premier League campaign underway in fine fashion as Kaoru Mitoma shines in a 3-0 victory over Everton. Simon Adingra and Danny Welbeck also scored in Fabian Hurzeler’s first managerial win.
Embed from Getty ImagesEverton started the game on the front foot, with Jack Harrison in particular causing plenty of problems for the Brighton defence. However Sean Dyche’s side didn’t take their chances and were caught out by Kaoru Mitoma on the counter.
Yankuba Minteh set up the opener with a lovely drop of the shoulder to beat Vitalii Mykolenko, the goal was totally against the run of play and shocked the home side.
Minteh later got caught in a nasty collision with Mykolenko and had to be subbed off due to concusion concerns, despite the Gambian’s protests, Simon Adingra was introduced before the interval.
Embed from Getty ImagesShortly after the start of the second half, Everton were awarded a penalty as Dominic Calvert-Lewin went down due to Lewis Dunk’s sliding challenge. Brighton got themselves in the mess as Mats Wieffer made a big error on his debut, getting his captain in trouble however luckily for both him and Dunk, the decision was controversially over-turned.
That moment could have changed the dynamic of the game but in the end it benefitted Brighton as they continued to take their few chances at this point.
Embed from Getty ImagesDanny Welbeck doubled his sides advantage in the 56th minute with a tidy finish into the bottom-left corner. Idrissa Gana Gueye initially gave the ball away in a dangerous area and Wieffer made up for his earlier mistake by picking out Welbeck.
The experienced forward turned and no Everton defenders came to close him down, allowing him to curl his strike past Pickford with ease. That goal marked Welbeck’s ninth goal involvement against Everton in his Premier League career and he didn’t waste much time getting his 10th.
Embed from Getty Images10 minutes later, things went from bad to worse for Everton; Ashley Young was shown a straight red card by referee Simon Hooper for preventing Kaoru Mitoma going through on goal.
Young didn’t deal with the initial ball over the top and had no chance in catching Mitoma at full speed so decided to hold his arm back and prevent what could have been a third goal.
Young hasn’t had the best time against Brighton at home, last season he scored a late own goal to gift the Albion an equaliser.
Embed from Getty ImagesSimon Adingra put the final nail in the coffin for Everton as he finished off a brilliant team goal. Welbeck claimed the assist with a fantastic pass into Adingra on the edge of the 18-yard box.
The Ivorian did the rest with a quick shimmie to get the ball on his left before unleashing a rifled shot into the bottom corner. That was enough for many home fans who headed straight for the exits as the net bulged.
20-year-old Yasin Ayari thought he’d scored his first Albion goal but his poked finish was quickly ruled out for offside. Nonetheless, Everton were dealt with and Brighton returned to the South Coast with three points.
Embed from Getty ImagesWritten by Isabelle Newnham
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