Brighton & Hove Albion broke their eight-game Premier League winless streak with a 2-0 triumph over Ipswich Town.
As the hour mark approached, Brighton broke the deadlock. Matt O'Riley released the ball to Kaoru Mitoma, who side-footed a shot past Christian Walton and scored for the first time since November.
The Tractor Boys began losing a grip in the game and Brighton banked all three points in the final ten minutes of the match. A near-post cross from a free kick fell for Georginio Rutter to double the lead.
Here are four things we learnt from Brighton's win:
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Luck broke Brighton’s way
The Seagulls should be happy to have returned to winning ways.
But there was room to improve.
Ipswich are a balanced outfit that are putting up a better fight for survival in the Premier League than most might have thought.
The task of being disciplined in a defensive block was not an uncomfortable one. Two banks of four men managed to restrict Fabian Hürzeler's men to 0.27 xG by half time.
Hürzeler encourages his players to be brave with the ball but this is not the first time that they have struggled to turn ball control into chances and goals, allowing their hosts to grow into the game.
Fortunately, Ipswich are not a high-scoring side, recording the third fewest goals of any team in the top tier.
Once Brighton broke in front, they turned their lead into a solid footing for dominance.
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Hürzeler harnesses the offensive impulse
It has been so long since Brighton last won a Premier League game that the temptation could have been to play it safe.
However, Hürzeler had felt it was time to strike, saying, “The game always opens when you score a goal because then the opponent has to react, defend higher, and press higher. This can give us more spaces in behind, and we were able to use that.”
Five shots followed in a furious fifteen minute spell.
Their pressing also picked up effectiveness in this phase of the contest. Jan Paul van Hecke explained that the manager's instructions helped the players work out how to beat their stubborn opponents.
“The coach said that we need to do things a little bit better… some things we also changed in our pressing and I think you could see that in the second half,” said van Hecke.
Of course, it is easier to take these decisions if a manager puts on players he can trust to be impactful.
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Brighton’s brilliant depth
Brighton have built up a habit of reviving after they lose their best talent.
But for now, they have kept a crop of players that should be the envy of several big sides— especially in the offensive department.
A pair of fresh faces supplemented the strategy of attacking Ipswich to force home the goal advantage.
Yankuba Minteh missed from point-blank range less than three minutes after his substitution as multiple blue shirts threw themselves at the ball to smother a strike.
Rutter capped off his cameo with a goal in the 82nd minute but he fitted in with the flow of the offense well before that contribution.
Top goalscorer Danny Welbeck also made his return to the field after more than a month out thanks to an ankle injury.
Julio Enciso did not even enter the pitch. The availability of so many possible game changers could make a difference in 2025 — and ambitions should not drop at the moment.
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All to play for in the new year
Brighton battled their way into the top five after their last victory. Since then, they have had the seventh-worst record in the division, and one might have thought that would spoil any aspirations.
But the Seagulls still sit in ninth spot with 31 points.
They are only seven off fourth-placed Newcastle and six behind fifth-placed Chelsea, whose form has been freefalling since the middle of December.
Brighton are one element of a highly competitive pack that has closed down the gap to the 'Big Six' this season.
According to Hürzeler, there have been many moments when this team "weren’t mature enough to win the games" in the last five months.
But if they can find a way to rectify this issue, then the dreams of a return to continental competition are very much alive in the second half of the season.
