Brighton ease to 5-0 win at 10-man Sheffield United
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Brighton and Hove Albion's Simon Adingra celebrates scoring their fifth goal, to complete his double.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SHEFFIELD, United Kingdom - A late Simon Adingra double secured Brighton and Hove Albion’s biggest away win in the Premier League as they won 5-0 at bottom side Sheffield United, who played most of the Feb 18 match with 10 men after Mason Holgate was sent off.
Brighton’s first league win on the road since November lifted them to seventh place with 38 points from 25 matches, while United, on 13, suffered a third loss in four games.
Holgate, who joined United on loan from Everton earlier in February, was sent off in the 13th minute after a knee-high challenge on Kaoru Mitoma.
“Obviously, the red card for Sheffield United changed the game,” Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi told Sky Sports.
“We have to be honest, when they concede a red card and we have a player more it is (easier).”
The visitors went ahead in the 20th minute when Facundo Buonanotte scored from close range after a Pascal Gross corner was headed down inside the box by Lewis Dunk.
Brighton doubled the lead thanks to Danny Welbeck in the 24th after Gross found Mitoma in the box. Keeper Wes Foderingham blocked the Japan forward’s shot but it went to Welbeck on the edge of the six-yard box and he finished with his left foot.
The hosts thought they had got a goal back before the break through Ben Osborn but a VAR check showed he was offside.
Jack Robinson then put Mitoma’s cross into his own net in the 75th and three minutes later Gross found Adingra in the box from the right and the Ivorian slammed home the ball with his right foot.
Adingra got his second goal in the 85th when Ansu Fati dodged several challenges to pass to him.
Brighton’s Danny Welbeck scores their second goal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Before the game I said we need two, three, four wins in a row,” De Zerbi said.
“We are fighting to keep the same level (as) last season. It is difficult because we have a lot more games than last season but we have the quality on and off the pitch,” he added.
Brighton host Everton on Feb 17, while United visit Wolverhampton Wanderers on Feb 25. REUTERS
