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Brighton snapped a six-match winless run with a comfortable home victory over second-bottom Burnley.
Georginio Rutter gave Brighton a first-half lead before Yasin Ayari doubled the advantage early in the second period. Loum Tchaouna came close to halving the deficit, but Scott Parker’s struggling side remain six points adrift of Nottingham Forest in 17th after their wait for a league victory stretched to 11 games.
Brighton began the day in 14th position after picking up three points from 18 available during December, while Burnley had collected two from a possible 30 dating back to October.
Charalampos Kostoulas, who made his first Premier League start as part of four changes from Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at West Ham, was denied a 10th-minute opener by a marginal offside.
Brighton continued to be the dominant side and edged ahead in the 29th minute with their first attempt on target. After Ayari’s effort from the edge of the penalty area deflected off Kostoulas, the ball broke kindly for Rutter to slam home his second goal of the season into the bottom-left corner from a tight angle.
Burnley, who made three changes from a 3-1 midweek loss to Newcastle, had failed to win any of their previous 39 matches when conceding first in the Premier League, but did threaten to snatch an equaliser in first-half added time when Lucas Pires’s low shot was repelled by the left leg of goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.
Brighton doubled their advantage within two minutes of the restart. The Burnley midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu conceded possession on the edge of his own area, allowing Ayari to sidestep Bashir Humphreys and drill an angled finish into the bottom-left corner.
Key facts
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• James Milner (pictured after the game with Fabian Hürzeler) has now made a Premier League appearance in each of the last 25 calendar years since 2002, the longest such run. Only two other players have played in more than 20 separate years in the competition (Ryan Giggs – 24, Gareth Barry – 21).
• Pascal Gross made his first appearance for Brighton since the final day of the 2023-24 season one year and 229 days ago. The German is one of two players with 200+ Premier League appearances for Brighton (229, also Lewis Dunk - 285) and has more goal involvements in the league than any other player for the Seagulls (30 goals, 45 assists).
Photograph: Simon Dael/Shutterstock Editorial
Kostoulas thumped straight at the Burnley keeper, Martin Dubravka, before Burnley almost pulled one back in the 67th minute. After Verbruggen flapped at Pires’s corner from the right, Tchaouna nodded towards the unguarded net, only for Ferdi Kadioglu to produce a superb last-ditch clearance by heading the ball against the crossbar.
Pascal Gross, who rejoined Brighton from Borussia Dortmund on Friday, received a rapturous reception from home fans when he was brought on for the final 19 minutes as part of a triple change. Gross’s fellow substitute, Maxim De Cuyper, almost added a third six minutes from time when he rattled the left post with a curling free-kick.
Burnley offered little in response as Brighton finally registered a first Premier League home win over their opponents at the seventh attempt.
