Brighton & Hove Albion continued their strong start to the 2022/23 Premier League campaign with an impressive 5-2 win at home to Leicester City on Sunday.
It started strongly for the visitors on the south coast as they took the lead within a minute as Patson Daka set up Kelechi Iheanacho, but Brighton fought back and were ahead 15 minutes later thanks to a Luke Thomas own goal and a Moisés Caicedo strike.
The Foxes fought back and levelled against the run of play in the 33rd minute through Daka's first goal of the season to take them into the half-time break level.
But Brighton blew Leicester away in the second half as Leandro Trossard fired past Danny Ward in the 64th minute before an Alexis Mac Allister brace secured Brighton's fourth win of the season.
The Seagulls put further pressure on Brendan Rodgers' future as the defeat means the Foxes sit at bottom of the table, having now lost five consecutive games in the league since drawing to Brentford on the opening day.
Story of the match
After Brighton's unbeaten start to the campaign was brought to an end by Fulham on Tuesday, Graham Potter decided to bring Danny Welbeck back into the line-up at the expense of left-back Pervis Estupiñán, who dropped to the bench.
Billy Gilmour was part of the matchday squad for the first time following his deadline day arrival from Chelsea, while Julio Enciso was not included.
Brendan Rodgers made two changes from the home defeat to Manchester United as Jamie Vardy and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall dropped to the bench in favour of Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho, both of whom started in the league for the first time this season.
Leicester were unable to call upon new signing, and Wesley Fofana's replacement, Wout Faes as the Belgian did not receive his visa in time to feature, so Wilfried Ndidi retained his place in defence.
The introduction of an additional centre-forward emphasised Rodgers' intent for this game, and within the first minute, it was the two forwards that were combining to put the Foxes ahead.
Youri Tielemans retrieved the ball deep into Brighton's half, moved it to Harvey Barnes, who slid in Daka, and it was the Zambian's pull-back from the left that evaded a Brighton defender to give Iheanacho an easy tap-in.
The hosts weren't behind for long as Pascal Gross' deep cross from the right was put back in by Alexis Mac Allister. Solly March rose at the back post to head it back across goal, but it deflected off of the arm of Luke Thomas and into the Leicester net in the 10th minute.
Four minutes later, Brighton took the lead after very poor defending from Leicester. Enock Mwepu intercepted James Maddison's pass in the centre and was allowed to drive towards the area unopposed. Rather than shooting, he opted to lay it to Moisés Caicedo, who took a touch to compose himself before firing a shot past Danny Ward to make it 2-1.
Leicester continued to be at fault for their downfall as Ward received the ball from Wilfried Ndidi, but the Welshman's touch was heavy, and it allowed Welbeck to dispossess him in a dangerous area. The 31-year-old tried to lob the goalkeeper from a wide area but his attempt looped onto the top of the net.
Brighton went on to test Ward again soon after as they were able to pass through the visitors' lines too easily, and Welbeck slid Groß into a shooting position, but Ward did well to come out and block the shot. However, it meant nothing, as the German was deemed offside.
Despite Potter's side taking a hold of the game, Leicester equalised against the run of play as Daka opened his account for the season. After Thomas regained possession, Tielemans picked out the Zambian's run with a magnificent pass from inside his own half that evaded Lewis Dunk's outstretched leg and the 23-year-old brought it down and then slid it past the oncoming Robert Sánchez.
Just before half-time, Sánchez was forced into his first save of the game. After Leandro Trossard intercepted Maddison's pass, the ball deflected fortuitously into Harvey Barnes' path and the winger fired a snapshot towards goal but it hit the Spanish international.
As quick as Leicester opened the scoring in the first half, Brighton thought they had taken the lead in the second. In the 47th minute, Pascal Groß's free-kick was cleared to the edge of the area, and Alexis Mac Allister fired an unstoppable first-time strike into the top corner, but it was disallowed as it was deemed that there was an offside in the build-up after a lengthy VAR check.
Soon after, Ward denied Enock Mwepu with a near-post save, Brighton took the lead, and this one counted. Mac Allister did well to maintain the ball outside the area before passing it to Groß; the German set up Leandro Trossard to unleash a left-footed strike for Brighton's third of the game in the 63rd minute.
The hosts so nearly made it for moments later as Brighton cut Leicester open on the counter; Groß set up March in a near identical position as Trossard's goal, but a strong save from Ward denied the wing-back.
It then went from bad to worse for Leicester as an excellent piece of skill from Trossard saw him skip past Ndidi into the area before the Nigerian fouled the tricky Belgian. Mac Allister stepped up and put it down the middle to finally get his goal after being denied earlier in the game.
After the fourth goal, the Seagulls were comfortable in closing out the game as Leicester never looked like getting a goal back and made it five as Mac Allister scored his second with a sublime free-kick that left Ward helpless in the last minute of stoppage-time.
Player of the Match - Alexis Mac Allister
Overall it was an outstanding performance from Brighton so picking a player was difficult, but Mac Allister shone that little bit more than the rest.
Denied a world-class goal by no fault of his own, the Argentine took the game by the scruff of its neck and was a constant thorn in Leicester's side as not only was he a creative outlet, he was very successful in reclaiming possession and progressing with the ball.