Sussex

Michael Emons
BBC Sport journalist

Image source, Getty Images

The good news for Brighton fans is their side remains unbeaten in all competitions after a thrilling 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest at Amex Stadium.

But, just like in their last league game when they dominated at home against Ipswich Town but drew 0-0, there was a feeling among the players that this was two points dropped.

Indeed, two goals in a three-minute spell, a powerful header from Jack Hinshelwood and an excellent Danny Welbeck free-kick, swung the game in Brighton's favour after the visitors had taken an early lead through Chris Wood's penalty.

But the hosts could not hang on to the lead and poor defending allowed Morgan Gibbs-White to race through and set up substitute Ramon Sosa to score an equaliser.

Brighton have won two and drawn three of their first five league matches as well as progressed into the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.

However, they now have a daunting run in their six fixtures, including matches against Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester City - games which will give us a better indication to the strength of the Seagulls this season.

Boss Fabian Hurzeler will not be on the touchline for the game at Chelsea on Saturday as both managers, along with Gibbs-White, were dismissed in a chaotic finale to a thrilling afternoon.

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Brighton forward Danny Welbeck has been speaking to Sky Sports following the draw: "Considering the position we were in at 2-1 up, the feeling is disappointment. It is really hard to take. It is a harsh lesson for us, but it is one that we have to analyse and work through on the training pitch.

"We need to make sure that if we are in this position again, it doesn't happen again. The game has ended in a draw again today, when really we should have closed it out, so it is really frustrating.

"There's a lot of disappointment in the dressing room and in the whole club, fans included."

On scoring his goal: "I have had a couple of close ones recently and it fell nicely for me. It was in a spot where I fancied my chances and it was a good free-kick, one that I'm happy with. We move on to the next one now."

On the Seagulls' unbeaten start: "We have got a great culture in the dressing room, where everyone wants to improve and elevate the levels. We can take the positivity of being unbeaten, but also take the disappointment of today and last week to fuel us to get better.

"There are moments where we have been naive, but we can look back on that and improve that."

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Brighton coach Andrew Crofts has been speaking to BBC Sport following the draw with Nottingham Forest: "Late in the game, where we are trying to push to win the game, and there is a foul right by our bench. The player is going for the ball but it felt like a foul - their bench felt differently.

"I didn't see too much of it, but the referee sent the managers off. I'm not 100% sure why and I haven't seen it back. I will ask him [Fabian Hurzeler] when I see him.

"We are frustrated. We felt we should've won the game. We created lots of chances. We probably would have wanted to create more chances but we scored two very good goals. A fantastic header and a top free-kick.

"We felt on top in the second half and tried to get a third goal to kill the game. We can definitely defend those moments better. On the whole, we defended very well because they didn't have many opportunities, but it is about trying to do it 100% of the time."

On working with Fabian Hurzeler: "He has been great to work with. I have learned so much from him in a short amount of time. He has brought a lot of new ideas into the club. He is really ambitious. It is a nice place to be."

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Danny Welbeck struck his 70th Premier League goal, but his first ever in the competition to come as a direct free-kick.

It is only the fourth direct free-kick goal that Brighton have scored in the competition with each coming from a different player (Lewis Dunk, Pascal Gross, Alexis Mac Allister and Danny Welbeck).

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Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League matches this season, against a variety of guests.

For week five, he takes on singer-songwriter and West Ham fan James Smith whose debut album, Common People, is out now.

Brighton host Nottingham Forest on Sunday at 14:00 BST...

Sutton's prediction: 1-1

It is hard to predict a defeat for Nottingham Forest now because they were so good at Liverpool and their backline of Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo, Alex Moreno and Ola Aina were just tremendous.

Forest also had James Ward-Prowse just sitting in front of their back four ticking things over and Ryan Yates alongside him getting on everyone's nerves with his tenacity.

Their substitutes came on and impacted the game at Anfield as well and the whole team had such composure.

So, while I look at Brighton and think they are capable of scoring, based on what I saw from Forest, why would I say they will lose?

I don't think Brighton will lose at home either, so I am really sorry, but I am going to have to go for another draw.

James's prediction: 2-2

This is an interesting one... they have both started well, so I am going to go for another draw.