Brighton lose thickly to relegation candidate Everton in fight for European ticket

Brighton & Hove Albion have lost precious points in the Premier League in the battle for European soccer. Against relegation candidate Everton they lost 5-1 at home.

Joël Veltman was missing from Brighton, the Dutchman is injured. Brighton is currently seventh. That position would entitle them to participation in the preliminary rounds of the Conference League at the end of the season.

For Everton, the victory means that the Liverpool team is no longer in a relegation spot for the time being. Prior to the match, that was still the case.

Just last Thursday Brighton had won against Manchester United, but this time Everton cut through Brighton’s defense quite easily in the first half.

Abdoulaye Doucouré was the big man for the Liverpool blues with two goals before halftime. After an own goal by goalkeeper Jason Steele, who unluckily boxed a cross into his own goal, both teams went into halftime with a 3-0 score.

In the second half, Brighton, which made four changes midway through, came out better. Yet it was Everton that scored. Fifteen minutes before time, Dwight McNeil, who tricked goalkeeper Steele with a fine foot movement, made the fourth for the guests.

For some of the home crowd, that goal was the reason to return home. The early departures did miss the 1-4 from Argentine Alexis Mac Allister. Well into injury time, McNeil also made it 1-5, this time with a rock-hard poke into the crossbar.

Fulham had already beaten Leicester City in Monday afternoon’s Premier League match. In a goal-rich game at Craven Cottage, base player Kenny Tete’s team won 5-3.

Although the final score suggested Leicester could keep up nicely, the game was already decided five minutes after halftime. The home team then made it 4-0. Tom Cairney and Willian both scored twice for Fulham, former PSV player Carlos Vinicius also scored.

That Leicester scored three more goals after that made the score slightly more bearable for Leicester, but no more than that. Leicester dropped to spot 17 in the league table due to this defeat and Everton’s win, which is one spot above the relegation line.