One word sums up more than any other Brighton & Hove Albion’s first season under Fabian Hurzeler: resilience.
They are shrugging off setbacks to keep their season on track, remaining in the hunt for Europe on two fronts. Hurzeler’s side will face the winners of either Nottingham Forest or Ipswich (who play this evening) at home in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup later this month after squeezing past Newcastle United 2-1 after extra time in the fifth round at St James’ Park.
Matches before that for the team lying in eighth place in the Premier League — at home to ninth-placed Fulham on Saturday and away to Manchester City (fourth) a week later — will have a bearing on their European ambitions via a high enough finish in the table.
The dream of securing the club’s first major silverware is still alive as well, with a Europa League spot also up for grabs for the winners of the FA Cup, as they found a way to beat Newcastle away from home for the second time this season through Danny Welbeck once again.
In October, Welbeck scored the only goal of the game in the league meeting between the teams. The forward came off the bench to clinch a 2-1 victory for the second time in the space of six days. On Tuesday night, he slotted a 75th-minute winner against Bournemouth at the Amex Stadium within three minutes of his introduction with a calm finish, rolled into the far corner of the next from a pass by Georginio Rutter.
The defining moment came later on this occasion, after Welbeck replaced Rutter in the 80th minute, but the ending was just as accomplished, if executed differently. The 34-year-old hooked the ball from an angle over Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka into the roof of the net with his right foot from a through ball by fellow substitute Solly March to seal the deal in the 114th minute.
Welbeck scored the winner at Newcastle for the second time this season (Alex Dodd/Getty Images)
Welbeck is now the joint-top scorer for Brighton across all competitions this season with eight goals, alongside Rutter and Kaoru Mitoma. His durability in continuously recovering from injuries that have plagued his career to keep on making a difference at top level is matched by the collective fortitude of Hurzeler’s squad.
They recovered from two setbacks at Newcastle. A rash tackle by Yankuba Minteh on Tino Livramento inside the penalty area led to Alexander Isak’s 22nd-minute penalty. Minteh, bought from Newcastle for £30million ($38m) last June — as Brighton capitalised on the issues confronting their rivals to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) — made amends by equalising in the 44th minute.
It had an element of fortune about it, as Minteh’s shot deviated in direction off the covering Kieran Trippier. Nevertheless, Minteh is becoming increasingly influential, with four goals and three assists across his last 10 appearances, and six goals in total this season.
Rutter gesturing to a crestfallen Minteh following his penalty giveaway to forget about what had happened was indicative of the togetherness and determination to bounce back which is serving Hurzeler’s side well.
There was another instance of this against Newcastle. The advantage of having an extra man after Anthony Gordon was sent off in the 83rd minute for lashing out at Jan Paul van Hecke evaporated eight minutes later with the dismissal of Tariq Lamptey for a second bookable offence. Lamptey’s foul on substitute Jacob Murphy, 40 yards from goal with no imminent danger, was irresponsible in the circumstances after the right-back received a yellow card in the first half for a foul on Gordon.
It was almost even more costly. Fortunately for Lamptey, Fabian Schar’s apparent winner, dispatched from the resulting free kick by Bruno Guimaraes, was disallowed by VAR with the Swiss central defender narrowly offside. Instead, it was Welbeck underlining the capacity of Hurzeler’s team to recover from adversity.
Brighton will host Forest or Ipswich in the quarterfinals (Andy Buchanan/Getty Images)
They went to Norwich in the third round of the FA Cup in January on a run of eight games without a win in the Premier League, although six of those matches were draws. A tricky tie away to Championship opponents was negotiated in style, 4-0, as Hurzeler was rewarded for naming a strong line-up.
That was followed by away wins in the league at Ipswich (2-0) and Manchester United (3-1), only for a disappointing home defeat by Everton (1-0) and a 7-0 crushing at Nottingham Forest to derail them once more. Only briefly, though. They have responded with five victories in succession in all competitions for the first time as a top-flight club, a run launched by beating Chelsea 2-1 at home in the fourth round of the FA Cup after the Forest debacle.
Hurzeler, asked by The Athletic during his post-match press conference at Newcastle about the message that the manner of the latest win sends about his squad, said: “The game was very intense and tough, so I don’t want this game to describe our season, but in general it is a fact. It describes our season, because we had some setbacks.
“But the reaction was always positive and the character from the players, they are very special. They have taken a lot of ownership so far. They always try to work hard on the pitch and they got what they deserve. Now it is very important that we try to get this consistency in our performances and results.
“You only get that by daily behaviour. That is what we really try to focus on, so that we don’t have this many setbacks, this many ups and downs, and therefore we have to keep working hard.”
(Top photo: Alex Dodd/Getty Images)
