Fulham 3-1 Brighton: Alex Iwobi shines as he nets brace to help Marco Silva’s side rise to European places in the Premier League with Seagulls stumbling again

Andreas Pereira was not in Fulham’s good books after giving an interview to a Brazilian media outlet last week where he said it was “unfortunate” that a move to Marseille fell through in the summer. In response, Marco Silva left him out of the team at the weekend, but the Brazilian made some amends on Thursday night.

With the game level in the final quarter of an hour after a wonderful shot from Carlos Baleba canceled out Alex Iwobi’s opener, Pereira’s corner hit the back of Brighton’s Matt O’Riley and into the net, before Iwobi capped off a man-of-the-match goal with a superb goal to seal the three points that took Fulham to sixth place in the table, one point behind Brighton.

In the pouring rain in west London, here were two sides with clear identities and it was a fascinating watch. Silva made three changes from Sunday’s draw at Tottenham with Rodrigo Muñiz replacing Raúl Jiménez and starting Timothy Castagne and Harry Wilson.

For Brighton, there were four changes from their draw against Southampton as Danny Welbeck missed due to an injury which Fabian Hurzeler described as a “small problem” not worth the risk. Lewis Dunk returned and took the armband as Baleba returned from suspension.

Hurzeler was serving a one-match touchline ban for picking up his third yellow card of the season against Southampton at the weekend and spoke before the game about “looking forward to the experience” of coaching from the stands, saying it was the first time I did it. so.

It was Brighton who started on the front foot but any excitement for Hurzeler was short-lived and was entirely his team’s doing with Bart Verbruggen trying to find Baleba in his own area but passing it straight to Iwobi who received a couple of touches. and passed it to an empty net.

For Iwobi, the early Christmas gift was accepted with grace as he equaled his goal tally from last season.

The cameras focused on Hurzeler, serious and helpless, sitting atop the new Riverside stand with Airpods in his ears.

Brighton came close to equalizing instantly with Jan Paul van Hecke sliding a through ball to Joao Pedro, who got behind Calvin Bassey but his shot was cleared by Bernd Leno.

The visitors offered a constant threat with Pedro and Kaoru Mitoma swapping regularly and O’Riley often advancing to the front four and in the 35th minute, they really should have equalized after some wonderful play.

Mitoma fired a wonderful ball into the box from the left flank, which O’Riley let run but Simon Adingra hit it straight at Leno from six yards.

For all their dominance in possession in the first half, Brighton lacked that killer edge.

Hurzeler’s frustration was growing and the absence of Welbeck, Brighton’s top scorer this season, seemed increasingly costly.

At the other end, Muniz came close to doubling Fulham’s lead but headed wide after climbing well to meet Antonee Robinson’s cross just before the break.

It was a timely reminder for Brighton and Fulham missed another golden opportunity just 15 seconds into the second half, with Wilson volleying wide after Iwobi found the Welshman.

However, as in the first half, the visitors had more possession of the ball and shortly after Van Hecke headed in a corner, Brighton equalized thanks to a moment of brilliance from Baleba.

Van Hecke’s lofted delivery found Pedro, whose movement put the ball into Baleba’s path and he first drilled it into the bottom corner before pulling away with an acrobatic celebration.

Both coaches made changes in the search for a winner and ultimately, against the run of play, it was Pereira, who replaced Emile Smith Rowe, who made the difference before Iwobi put the icing on the cake, turning and turning the ball into the area. bottom corner from outside the box. Surprisingly, Brighton are yet to beat Fulham in their nine Premier League games against the Cottagers.