Brighton 2-2 Southampton: Three things you may have missed

The hosts took the lead inside two minutes when Danny Welbeck stabbed home into an open net. Albion then doubled their lead thanks to a Mohammed Salisu own goal following great work from Welbeck in the build-up.

A textbook James Ward-Prowse free-kick halved the deficit for the visitors just before half-time, the skipper then drilled in from outside the box to complete the turnaround and his brace early in the second half.

Brighton saw what would’ve been a winning goal chalked off after VAR confirmed the linesman’s marginal offside call against Alexis MacAllister in the build-up to Pascal Gross’ terrific strike from distance.

Both sides put on a display for the fans today as the game ebbed and flowed with both teams enjoying more flourishing periods in the game than the other. Here are three things you might’ve missed from today’s action:

Salisu’s painful clearance

Salisu endured a nightmare first-half, at fault for the first goal along with Fraser Forster, he then put the ball in the back of his own net for the second, all whilst looking uncomfortable throughout.

However, it was his involvement in the first goal that set the tone for the rest of his half. Welbeck tapped in from yards out after the Ghanaian and Forster failed to deal with Marc Cucurella’s ball across the six-yard box.

As the two collided, the ball rolled to Welbeck with Salisu trying an incredibly speculative clearance. With Forster between him and the ball, the defender swung his leg trying desperately to reach the ball that wasn’t possible for him to get near.

Instead he ended up roundhouse kicking Forster in the side of the head leaving the goalkeeper on the floor perplexed to what just happened. The pain of conceding just seconds in doubled in an instance for the English stopper.

Sanchez’s sarcasm

Even from kick off in the opening 45, Southampton were looking long to utilise the pace of Che Adams and Shane Long on the counter-attack.

The visitors played 26 long balls compared to the hosts 19, with most of those coming from deep towards the two restless strikers.

A goalkeeper not moulded in the modern ilk as his Brighton counterpart, Forster very rarely played out to his defence and midfield, instead opting to aim long. One clearance in particular during the first half was picked up kindly by the wind and taken towards the Albion goal.

The ball without a bounce made its way into the Albion area and straight to a ready Sanchez who plucked the ball into his chest and even acknowledged the kick from the other end of the pitch. Sarcastically putting his thumb up to Forster as if the pass were aimed for him like a warm-up routine.

Brighton stars’ homes

Potter in his post-match press conference was asked whether his side had been instructed to be more aware of giving away fouls on the edge of their own box against the prolific free-kick expert Ward-Prowse.

The Saints skipper has a catalogue of free-kick goals, almost as thick as they come in the Premier League. With his opener today seeing him net his 14th direct Premier League free-kick, second in the all-time list, only four behind David Beckham’s total.