Brighton & Hove Albion

Scott McCarthy
Fan writer

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The main Brighton talking point from the weekend is obviously breaking four-on-one in the 92nd minute with the chance to go 3-1 ahead against Wolves and, 30 seconds later, the visitors scoring at the other end to ensure it finished 2-2.

I have not seen anything that ghastly watching Brighton since a blocked toilet overflowed and began flooding into a train carriage on the way back from a 2-0 defeat at MK Dons in 2009.

So we will not dwell on it. Either Mats Wieffer's terrible square pass which gave the ball away. The terrible defending which followed. The terrible ending to the game. Or that terrible journey home from Milton Keynes 15 years ago.

How about a positive from the draw with Wolves instead? Evan Ferguson ended an 11-month run without a goal for club or country when putting Brighton into what should have been an unassailable 2-0 lead with two minutes plus injury time remaining.

It was some strike to break his duck too. After creating the necessary space, Ferguson clinically picked out the bottom corner with aplomb.

His celebration was one of relief rather than joy, reflecting what a frustrating year it has been since he last found the back of the net away at Nottingham Forest on 25 November last year.

Ferguson is a magnificent talent who should be better for the experience of his barren spell - something almost all strikers go through and therefore have to find a way out of.

Ex-Albion forward Nicky Forster was notorious for it, going on long sequences without scoring. But once he notched one, the goals always flowed again.

The same can happen with Ferguson. Good news for Brighton and the Republic of Ireland, bad news for defences at the other 19 Premier League clubs.

Find more from Scott McCarthy at We Are Brighton, external

Katie Stafford
BBC Sport journalist

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Carabao Cup game against Liverpool (kick-off 19:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Lewis Dunk "has a small muscle injury" and although Hurzeler does not know the time scale for his return "it is possible" it could be before the international break.

• He said "it won't be easy to replace" Dunk as he's "our captain and leader" but Igor Julio shows they have suitable replacements in defence.

• Jack Hinshelwood and Yankuba Minteh have been in training and "both have a chance" of featuring against Liverpool.

• Jason Steele will be in goal for the cup game and Tariq Lamptey could be given some minutes as he has been "looking sharp and strong in training".

• He said Danny Welbeck, who had a back injury, came through Saturday's game fine and "is an option" against Liverpool.

• On the disappointing draw against Wolves: "It's important you don't let yourself be defined by failure, failure should teach you. We were really honest with each other. But in general it was about learning from these things and trying to be better next time."

• On opponents Liverpool: "They are one of the best teams in the world but it is a game. We are capable of beating every team in this league. If you don’t have self-belief you shouldn’t be in games like this."

• He said he wants his team "to be ruthless" in and out of possession "because there will always be chances" in the game to cause damage.

Follow all of Tuesday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

There was late drama...

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And late drama...

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And late drama...

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Sometimes you just can't escape it.

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There were returns to goalscoring ways...

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And goalscoring partnerships...

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While sometimes the spoils just have to be shared...

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And after a busy day at work, sometimes you just need a lie down.

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Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Brighton and Wolves.

Here are some of your comments:

Brighton fans

Sarah: At 2-0 up with four minutes to go, I'm horrified at the way the end of the game unfolded but more horrified by the fact that Hurzeler blamed the lack of experience of his players, rather than his own lack of experience. He made so many substitutes of inexperienced players at the last minute which, in my opinion, cost us the game.

Richard: As disappointed as I was at the final whistle, there were a lot of positives to take. We dominated, scored two goals and Ferguson will hopefully get a huge confidence boost from his fine strike. Well played Wolves, they deserved something from the game, just purely on their refusal to let their heads drop. They will be OK come May.

Hayling: Poor decisions on substitutions by the manager. You don't take off your best player and midfield shield, Baleba, especially to bring on a player who has proved again to not be up to the Premier League.

Jack: It genuinely felt like we may have turned a corner in these sorts of games, but no it is the same old Brighton. We can't finish off teams below us, which is why we will not finish in a European place again this season. Unprofessional.

Wolves fans

Mark: Our opening run of fixtures was always going to be tough. We have played well for the majority of our games so far, but we have got little reward. O'Neil will be judged more fairly on the upcoming November fixtures. We will need at least a couple of wins for him to keep his job, which I hope he does.

Graham: Nice to see the good work of last week carrying on. An all too familiar scoreline was on the cards again after the second goal went in, but at last we showed some fighting spirit to get a good result. Well done lads!

David: We will win when we stop gifting our opponents gift-wrapped goals. Brighton should have never scored two goals. We desperately need two experienced defenders to teach the youngsters how to read the game. Bring back Conor Coady, even as a coach!

Dan: Wolves gave the ball away way too much and sat deep in the first half, so it was a matter of time before Brighton scored. Fair play, we changed it at half-time and pressed more. Very lucky with the equaliser as Brighton should have scored with the four-v-one, but we are well overdue some luck. We need this to kickstart our season now.

Gary Lineker introduces highlights and analysis from Saturday's five Premier League fixtures, plus the best of the action from Friday's game between Leicester City and Nottingham Forest.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Aston Villa 1-1 Bournemouth

• Everton 1-1 Fulham

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has been speaking to BBC Radio Sussex after his side were forced to settle for a draw against Wolves: "We were not clean enough in the defending during the last 10 minutes. We were too passive and not professional enough to finish the game in an ugly way. We haven't managed this today, so we have to learn from it.

"Hopefully we learn quickly but how to manage a game and win in an ugly way is a big topic for us. They are still a young team so I'm sure they will learn from it.

"It is important to also have bad experiences because if you only have good experiences, you won't grow personally. In these moments, you can show your character and you can show how strong you are. You can lift yourself up and show a reaction."

On Evan Ferguson's goal: "Of course [it will give him confidence]. Evan works hard and I think this goal will help him to gain self confidence back. We will provide him with an environment where he will improve.

"We need everyone [at the moment]. Like I said, we have some small issues with some of our players at the moment, so we don't have the full squad training, but we will try to manage it.

"We will need all of our squad in the next games, it is very important."

On whether Lewis Dunk came off with an injury: "I'm not sure yet. We will have to wait for the scan and then I can say more. Of course we couldn't take any risks with him."

Listen to the full post-match interview

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Brighton goalscorer Danny Welbeck has been speaking to BBC Radio Sussex after the draw with Wolves: "Very difficult and frustrating. It is horrible to take. It is something that we have to learn from. It is difficult because we were 2-0 up, so it is very disappointing to finish a game at 2-2.

"We want to get those three points and it didn't happen today - it is something we have got to learn from and make sure doesn't happen again.

"We were in control so we have got to be more mature and understand the game better. It might be the 85th minute and you might not play the same as you do in the first minute, so it's those things that we have to be better at.

"We need to develop the experience, and you do get the experience from going through these difficult situations."

On Mats Wieffer's attacking chance at the end of the game: "This stuff happens in football. When you are in that position, you don't expect to be counter-attacked on. It happened and there is no blame on him, we take it as a team.

"Everybody has got to be together. We stick together through the highs and the lows. He is an exceptional player and I'm sure he will make a big impact for us in future games."

On his current form: "I'm feeling good. I'm feeling fit and strong.

"That injury last week was a painful one, it hit me in the nerve and just shot off a feeling into my leg but I recovered throughout the week thanks to the medical staff at the club. Everyone was top draw.

"I couldn't play the whole game today but I felt good up until 70 minutes. It was nice to get the goal and it was a great assist, but it is hard to be happy today."

Listen to the full post-match interview

Neil Johnston
BBC Sport journalist

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Nine games in and Danny Welbeck has already scored more goals than he managed in 29 Premier League appearances last season.

Despite throwing away a 2-0 lead against struggling opponents, there were one or two positives for Brighton to take into next Wednesday's Carabao Cup last-16 tie with Liverpool (19:30 GMT).

One of them is the scoring form of 33-year-old Welbeck.

He has found the net in three successive games for only the third time in the Premier League, previously doing so in January 2014 with Manchester United and November 2010 with Sunderland.

Against Wolves, Welbeck produced another composed finish from an angle to open the scoring after stepping up to captain the side after Lewis Dunk injured his ankle in the warm-up.

Welbeck already has six Premier League goals this season - one more than he managed for the whole of last season - and looks at the top of his game as he approaches his 34th birthday next month.

If Brighton can stop throwing away leads, they just might be able to challenge for a European spot if Welbeck keeps up his form.

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

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What did you make of Wolves' display?, external

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Five matches make up Saturday's Premier League action, and we will bring you every moment.

• Aston Villa v Bournemouth - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

• Brentford v Ipswich

• Brighton v Wolves

• Manchester City v Southampton

• Everton v Fulham - 17:30 - listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

Kick-offs 15:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

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

For week nine he takes on rapper Nemzzz, who supports Manchester United.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

I disagreed with Wolves boss Gary O'Neil because I thought it was correct not to disallow Manchester City's last-gasp winner last weekend.

O'Neil was clutching at straws to compare it to the goal Max Kilman had ruled out against West Ham last season because, unlike Bernardo Silva for City, in that incident Tawanda Chirewa was offside and directly in the goalkeeper’s way.

I felt for O'Neil because Wolves played really well, although in the end I was only four goals out with my prediction of a 6-1 City win.

This is another tough game for them, against a Brighton side who got a really good win at Newcastle last week.

So can Wolves drag themselves up again after giving so much and coming close to getting a point against the champions?

I am really tempted to go for them to get a draw but, although they deserved to get more than one point from their first eight games, they have been inconsistent.

Wolves have definitely got a goal in them, but I am going with Brighton to take the points.

Nemzzz's prediction: 1-1

Brighton are flying but I don't think Wolves are as bad as the league table suggests.

Read the full predictions and have your say here

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Earlier, we asked you to identify the former Brighton player from their Premier League statistics playing for the club.

The correct answer was Adam Lallana.

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Brighton midfielder Yasin Ayari is pleased with the progress he has made this season and about being able to contribute to his team's excellent start.

The Sweden international joined the Seagulls in January 2023 and spent last season on loan in the Championship, first with Coventry and later with Blackburn.

So far in 2024-25, the 21-year-old has featured in six of Brighton's eight Premier League games and helped Fabian Hurzeler's side climb to fifth in the table.

"I'm trying to enjoy every moment and trying to work hard to be a better player every day," he told BBC Radio Sussex before Saturday's game against bottom club Wolves.

"We go into every game to try to win it. We have two wins in a row and we want to make it three. Now is a good chance to show everybody what we can do.

"I don't know what [other] people think, but here, we are convinced that we have a good team, a good coach and I think we can do good things this season."

Listen to more from Ayari on BBC Sounds

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Former Wolves striker Don Goodman says that facing Brighton at Amex Stadium is "one of the hardest fixtures in the Premier League".

The Molineux side visit on Saturday having fallen to a stoppage-time defeat at home to champions Manchester City last weekend. Goodman believes that the side will approach their contest with Brighton on Saturday in the same manner.

Speaking on this week's Albion Unlimited podcast Goodman explained: "Coming away to Brighton is up there with one of the hardest fixtures in the Premier League. And Wolves will probably have to approach it in a not too disimilar way to last week [v Manchester City]. I expect them to come to the Amex and try to be solid, hard to break down because they have conceded 23 league goals after just eight games so far this season."

So what has Goodman made of the Seagulls so far this season?

"I have been really impressed, You are a threat, there is no doubt about it, with 14 goals in eight league games so far.

"The main disappointments will be the draws at home against Ipswich and Forest, so you could potentially have had even more points. But from what I have seen Brighton are in a good place."

Listen to the full episode now on BBC Sounds

Guess the former Brighton player from their Premier League statistics at the club:

• Years at club: 2020-2024

• National team: England

• Position: Midfielder

• Appearances: 95

• Goals: 3

Answer will be revealed at 17:00 BST

Image source, Brighton & Hove Albion

Former Brighton forward Bobby Zamora is looking forward to helping "strikers to achieve their goals" after taking up a new role as striker consultant.

The 43-year-old is currently in his third spell with the Seagulls as a club ambassador, having had two on the south coast as a player.

He will now combine his ambassadorial role with helping develop Brighton's attacking players as part of boss Fabian Hurzeler's backroom staff.

"I’m pleased to be back to help the club and the strikers to achieve their goals, working on all the elements of football on and off the pitch," said Zamora.

"It's a great environment to be involved in and hopefully I can play a part in helping the club achieve further success."

Having initially joined Albion on loan in February 2000, Zamora went on to play 108 games across two spells, scoring 51 goals.

Technical director David Weir added: "Bobby clearly has a wealth of knowledge and experience from an exceptional career in the game, and he is working to help our attacking players across two sessions each week.

"Brighton fans need no introduction to Bobby; they know just how clinical he was as a player and about his ability in the penalty box We feel he can help our attacking players in that regard."

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Fabian Hurzeler is very much one of the new breed of managers who gives as little away on the injury front as possible.

The Brighton boss has refused to put a date on Joao Pedro's likely return after an ankle problem but has said it will be "soon".

That is such a subjective word, it could mean anything, but on balance, it has to be taken as good news.

The 23-year-old has only played four times this season and has scored two goals.

With Brighton fifth in the table, it is tempting to wonder where they might have been if their £30m forward had been fit.

More to the point, with back-to-back games against Liverpool to come after this weekend's encounter with Wolves, and then a meeting with Manchester City, it is Joao Pedro's presence for what is to come that is more important.

Brighton fans will hope in Huzerler's world, "soon" means just a few more days.

Brighton centre-forward Danny Welbeck has started the 2024-25 season in fine form, scoring five goals and registering one assist in eight Premier League appearances so far this term.

The 33-year-old arrived at Amex Stadium in October 2020 on a free transfer, after agreeing a one-year contract with the club to work under former Seagulls manager Graham Potter.

Speaking on BBC Sounds' Planet Premier League podcast, Potter praised the "role model" goalscorer, stating: "If you get Danny Welbeck fit and enjoying his football, the quality is still there.

"He is a top player and a top person. Credit to the club - they didn't just recognise that it is about signing young players, it is also about understanding what older players can do for the environment and for the collective.

"Somebody like Danny is a role model. He can teach you how to act, how to be, how to condition yourself and how to interact with your team-mates at the highest level.

"I'm delighted for him that he is doing what he is doing. I think he is contributing with goals, he is intelligent, he can drop in and he can threaten the backline.

“If you see what Danny has had to go through, I think he is also a resilient character. He is a good human being, so he doesn't get carried away too much with the nonsense of football.

"To have someone [in your squad] that has been there and done it, and can just handle it well, I think is priceless as a coach.

"We talk about tactics such as half spaces and all this stuff, which is of course really important, but there is a human side to the game as well - having players like him is just so valuable."

Listen to the latest episode here