Sussex World Sports editor Derren Howard gives his verdict as Brighton return to winning ways in the Premier League with a 1-0 home win against Aston Villa.
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00:00 Hi there, it's Darren Howard here, the sports editor from Sussex World, and just finished
00:05 watching the Brighton vs Aston Villa game, and that was much more like it from Brighton.
00:11 A really, really good performance at the Amex Stadium after what's been a real struggle
00:17 in recent matches. It was their first win from their last seven games, and it was thoroughly
00:24 deserved to be honest. They were on the front foot against the Aston Villa team, who were
00:30 really pushing for the Champions League spots. They had a bad result, Emery's team, in mid-week
00:37 against Olympiacos in their Europa Conference League match, their semi-final. It just looked
00:43 as though they were a little bit off the pace against Brighton against that.
00:48 Dzerbi's team, they took full advantage and they didn't really allow Villa too many chances
00:56 in the game at all. I thought from start to finish, Brighton looked solid, they looked
01:01 disciplined. They had an experienced back line today, which I think made a difference.
01:06 Joel Veltman, the Bruggerning goal, and then it was Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster
01:12 and then Igor Julio on the left side. I think that really showed in the previous matches.
01:20 Valentin Barko, he'd been playing on the left-hand side and as good a player as he's going to
01:25 be, it's tough to learn in that environment, especially when you're up against teams such
01:34 as Manchester City and away at Bournemouth as well, who are playing very well at the
01:40 moment. So Barko dropped to the bench, Igor was on the left back. Then in front of them
01:45 they had Pascal Gros and Billy Gilmore in the midfield. I thought that worked really
01:50 well. Gros looked good, he was solid. But Gilmore, on my player ratings, I gave him
01:56 an eight out of ten. It was only his second game back following his injury. He'd missed
02:02 about six or seven games with this knee injury picked up while on international duty. Having
02:07 him back in that midfield just added... Defensively he was good, he was closing down the Aston
02:14 Villa midfield. But when he's on the ball, that's really when you see his extra quality
02:20 and his extra class that he can bring to the team. He's able to just pick out the pass,
02:25 it's so easy and natural for him. He just picks out the pass, gets the play moving forward.
02:30 He can also drive forward with the ball as well. So I think having Billy Gilmore in for
02:36 these final few matches is going to be very, very important for Brighton as they try and
02:41 look to finish the season a bit better. So it moves them up to one place. The victory
02:47 today moves them up to 11th in the table. They can now look forward to the rest of their
02:54 games. They've got to play Newcastle, then Chelsea and then Manchester United finally.
02:59 So three more very, very difficult games. Of course Chelsea, they won. They scored five
03:05 against West Ham today. So that's going to be a tough game. Newcastle looked good against
03:08 Burnley as well at the weekend. So that's going to be tricky. What you get from Manchester
03:14 United, you never know. But Brighton are going to be... I think it's going to give them a
03:18 lot of confidence today's victory. And in particular, Simon Odinga down the left-hand
03:26 side. He'd been a bit flat in recent matches and I don't think it was all his fault as
03:32 well. He was getting some criticism and saying that he hasn't really been performing that
03:37 well and he hasn't scored for a long while. I think Sheffield United away was probably
03:43 his last goal. Although he didn't score today, he was a threat down that left-hand flank.
03:50 From the minute one, he was at Esri Konca who really struggled against him. He absolutely
03:57 couldn't deal with Odinga's pace, his skill and his directness as he was continuously
04:06 running at Konca and causing him problems. I think Odinga had suffered a bit in the previous
04:13 matches. The team wasn't functioning well. He wasn't receiving the service. He wasn't
04:17 getting the balls in good areas. And when Brighton don't dominate the ball, the wide
04:22 players often have to drop back and they spend too much of their time doing defensive work.
04:29 I think that's what's happened to Odinga over the last few weeks or so. But today,
04:36 Brighton were better as a team. They kept possession better and that really allowed
04:41 Odinga to really go down that left flank and attack them.
04:46 Also, I thought Bonote was pretty good as well. He played off the right-hand side and
04:52 he was cutting in. Although he didn't have the impact of Odinga, he was still very good.
04:57 He still worked very hard and he's at his best when he's finding these little gaps and
05:01 spaces in the midfield, which he did against Aston Villa from time to time. In turn, he
05:07 looks to play that little pass through or get his shots away. I thought those two, they
05:14 bode well for the rest of the season. If they can keep that control of the matches that
05:20 Deserbe looks for in every game, where they're in control of the ball from the back into
05:26 the midfield and then their attacking players can then find a way to keep the pressure on
05:32 teams. It's not easy against teams like Aston Villa. They've been excellent this season.
05:38 They're a Champions League team potentially next season. Today's result dented their chances
05:46 a bit. It depends on what Tottenham does a bit later on against Liverpool. It's still
05:51 looking as though Villa are going to make those top four places and deservedly so. They
05:56 really didn't get a look in against Brighton today. They didn't offer anything going forward.
06:02 Brighton are always one step ahead. It looks good. The actual goal arrived that Brighton
06:10 were playing some good attacking football. Their keeper, Robert Olsen, who was in for
06:15 the injured Emi Martinez, he'd played very well up until that point. He'd denied Pascal
06:21 Gross, he'd denied Jal Pedro. He also saved from Odinga in the first half. Then when Odinga
06:26 were 1-0 down after concert, he saved Jal Pedro's header very well down low to his right.
06:35 The ball just popped up and Pedro, luckily for him, it landed perfectly and he just nodded
06:43 home the winner on the 87th minute. Brighton had to keep going until the end. It was perhaps
06:50 a little bit fortunate how the rebound ricocheted up for Jal Pedro. I think anybody watching
06:56 the game wouldn't have begrudged Brighton the victory. I thought they thoroughly deserved
07:02 it. After the game against Bournemouth where they were beating soundly 3-0 at Bournemouth,
07:07 I thought the response to that and how they played, how they looked more confident on
07:13 the ball, in possession and also out of possession where they didn't allow Villa the momentum
07:19 to get going forward. I thought it was very good. So, good day all round. I think the
07:25 fans enjoyed it as well. They just wanted to see Brighton put on a good show and deliver
07:29 some good performances between now and the end of the season. Moving up that place as
07:34 well that also adds, every place in the Premier League is worth about three million. So, if
07:40 Brighton can get some decent results in the next few matches, that's a significant amount
07:45 of money. So, you don't really want to be ending the season on a whimper. You want to
07:49 be moving up the table as much as you can. Like I say, they're up to 11th but if they
07:53 can keep pushing and maybe finish in the top half or maybe get that eighth or ninth spot
07:58 still that's still a possibility. Then that all adds to the prize money. The market that
08:05 Brighton fish in where they're looking for these players of around six million or around
08:10 about that figure below ten million and perhaps pushing up those extra few places, that's
08:15 another South American teenager that they can bring in perhaps for a decent fee and
08:20 then look to integrate them into the team. So, it all matters. These last few games,
08:25 there's still a lot riding on them and I think Brighton fans after today's result can now
08:31 look forward to the final few matches. But a good victory for Brighton, well deserved
08:38 and the next game will be at Newcastle next weekend and we'll have all the previews and
08:45 all the analysis for the Newcastle game and all the analysis from today's game on the
08:51 Sussex World website including the player ratings where predictably Odinga was the man
08:57 of the match but there was also some good performances elsewhere as well. So, take a
09:01 quick look on Sussex World for all the latest Brighton news. Thank you.