Premier, Brighton-Everton 1-5: heavy defeat for De Zerbi

“Incredible”. Not even Everton on social media seem to believe what they’ve done. At the Amex Stadium in Brighton, the Toffees win 5-1 at the home of De Zerbi’s team: they had been without success for 7 games, away this year they had rejoiced only once, yet in the 35th minute they were celebrating the 3-0 having sensationally sent one of the most fit teams in the Premier League into a tailspin. An “incredible” victory that is worth a very important step towards salvation, with the Toffees now at 32 points in 35 games, the three places that lead to the Championship in the rear-view mirror and also behind Leicester, beaten 5-3 by Fulham in the first game of the day.

Incredible is a word that can also be applied very well to Brighton, who played their worst game of the De Zerbi era less than 10 days after playing their best, with a performance well below the very high standards reached by the Italian manager. A fiasco to which is added the insult of the muscle injury that takes away Solly March, one of the 4 changes of the interval. One that risks weighing in on the sprint to Europe, which De Zerbi’s team can reach in the 5 remaining games, even if 3 are against the top three in the standings.

The keys

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An “incredible” match begins with a goal after 34 seconds (the 10th in the Premier League this year scored in the first minute of a match, the most ever) and a team that wins with 5 shots on goal worth 5 goals. Everton deserved their success: Dyche’s team did what a team fighting against relegation must do against a stronger opponent, that is to defend and strike on the counterattack. And he did it magnificently: twice with Doucouré for the first two goals, then in Steele’s own goal and twice in the second half with McNeil, the man of the match, who had also propitiated the 3-0. Defending the advantage was the wall raised with meticulousness and commitment in his own area and the splendid saves by Pickford, who recalled why he is the starting goalkeeper for the English national team. Brighton made a sensational disaster, not at all mitigated after a disturbing first half, in which the seagulls still conceded two goals on the counterattack making their match a sensational fiasco. De Zerbi’s team now has 55 points in 33 games, still in 7th place, with the certainty that Europe is within reach but that it will be conquered by not repeating disasters like this.

The match

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Brighton’s first half is one of the worst of the De Zerbi era. Everton pass by surprise after just 34 seconds: Dunk misses first the support and then the intervention that frees Calvert-Lewin’s counterattack, intelligent enough once he arrives in the area to put in the middle where Doucouré hits the target. Brighton tries to restart but goes haywire and in the 29th minute the Malian midfielder doubles with a splendid right-footed volley that ends a counterattack triggered by McNeil. In the 35th minute the sensational 3-0 also arrived, an own goal by Steele who touched a cross from McNeil on goal.

Brighton are so dazed that they risk conceding even their fourth goal before returning to the locker room, from where they come out with 4 new players: Ferguson, March, Enciso and Colwill. De Zerbi’s team now looks like the real one, with March devastating on the right and Ferguson unleashed in attack. However, the goal did not arrive, thanks to Pickford (also helped by luck when Mac Allister hit the crossbar in the 66th minute), and it was Everton who rejoiced with yet another counterattack, launched by Iwobi and finalized by McNeil in the 76th minute . Three minutes later Brighton found a daring goal through Mac Allister, but it was too late to avoid a disaster that Everton made even heavier with McNeil’s second personal goal in the 96th minute. Really incredible.