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Brighton won 2-0 at the Stadium of Light in Matchweek 6, and Sunderland spent a good chunk of it with ten men. Maxim De Cuyper put the visitors ahead in the 53rd minute, then Pascal Struijk was sent off four minutes later for a foul as the last defender, which pretty much settled the evening. Jaouen Hadjam added a second on the counter in the third minute of stoppage time, to make it look tidier than it felt. That's three straight league wins without conceding for Brighton, who move up to 3rd on 13 points; Sunderland stay on 7 points, down in the bottom half, and will want a quick reset.
Pre-match Talking Points
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1Matchweek 6, and the table has this one looking lopsided. Brighton are 3rd on 10 points with a goal difference of +8; Sunderland are 11th on 7 points and minus two. Win and Sunderland are right in the mix behind the big boys. Lose and the comfortable-mid-table feeling gets a bit less comfortable, especially with a goals-against column that is already looking busy.
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2These two have history that is more recent than you would think. Brighton and Sunderland drew 0-0 in December, then Brighton won 1-0 at the Stadium of Light in March. So Sunderland are still hunting a first win over Brighton since coming back up, which is a perfectly good thing to say with a straight face.
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3Player to watch: Granit Xhaka. He has played for Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen and Switzerland, and now runs the midfield for a newly promoted side, which is a bit like hiring a retired chess grandmaster to coach your pub quiz team. If he is on the ball, Sunderland are probably fine. If Brighton cut him off, that is where it gets awkward.
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4The subplot is how each side has been scoring. Brighton have 14 goals in five games, the most in the league bar Man City, and they come in off a 3-0 home win over Arsenal. Sunderland come in off a 5-3 defeat at Man City, which is a respectable place to lose but means they have let in nine goals in five. Something has to give, and it is probably going to be a defender's afternoon.
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5The hook: this is the entertainment-per-minute pick of the weekend. Sunderland are a newly promoted club who are enjoying themselves and have got a very loud ground to do it in, and Brighton are the neutral's favourite for slick passing and goals. Lots of chances at both ends is the sensible bet. Check the team sheets about an hour before kick-off for late news, as nothing was confirmed when this was written.
Team Talking Points
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1Sunderland beat Chelsea 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, and it was a big one. It ended a winless run, lifted them off the bottom of the table, and pushed Chelsea out of the top four. Not a bad afternoon's work.
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2The goal was an Enzo Le Fée penalty in the 36th minute, after striker Brian Brobbey was brought down by Levi Colwill. Chelsea moaned that Brobbey had pulled Colwill first. Sunderland fans will tell you, cheerfully, that the decision stood.
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3Chelsea had about 69% of the ball, but Sunderland created the better chances. One stats site had Sunderland's expected goals at 2.55 against Chelsea's 0.53. Translation for the non-fan: the scoreline flattered Chelsea, not Sunderland.
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4Manager Régis Le Bris had been under real pressure going in, so this one mattered. He called it 'crucial', but admitted that the target is still 40 points and there's 'a long way to go'. Sunderland are 19th on eight points, so he's right.
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5First up after the break is Aston Villa away on Saturday 21 November. Then there's the small matter of the Tyne–Wear derby at Newcastle on 5 December. Feel free to ask a Sunderland fan whether they've started thinking about it. They have.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Chelsea had seventy per cent of the ball and Sunderland had all three points. Funny how that works.
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Avoid saying
"Sunderland? I thought they were still in League One." They did spend years down there, and Netflix made a whole documentary about how painful it was. Bringing it up now, with Chelsea freshly beaten, is a quick way to get a stony stare.
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1Brighton are second in the Premier League going into the international break, with 22 points from 10 games. They've also got the best goal difference in the division at +19 – better even than leaders Arsenal's +10. Drop that stat and you'll sound like you've been reading the small print.
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2Last weekend they beat Brentford 2-0 at the Amex. Diego Gómez opened the scoring with a long-range screamer on his weaker foot, and Pascal Gross – back at the club and still pinging them in – added a penalty just before half-time.
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3The defence is the quiet story. That was their seventh clean sheet of the season and their fourth in five home league games. For a team usually praised for pretty football, they've become surprisingly hard to score against.
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4Fabian Hurzeler, still one of the youngest managers in the league, is having the best spell of his time at the club. Earlier in the season Brighton also thrashed newly promoted Coventry 5-0 – a result that set the tone for the whole autumn.
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5Next up is a trip to Hull on Sunday 22 November, then the fixtures get tougher. Brighton fans are cautiously excited – being five points behind Arsenal in second is uncharted territory, so let them enjoy it without saying the words 'title race' too loudly.
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Top thing to say down the pub
Best goal difference in the league and seven clean sheets already – Brighton aren't just the pretty-football side any more, they're properly hard to beat.
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Avoid saying
"Brighton always sell their best players, they'll fall away" – yes, they sell well, and yet here they are second in the table. It's the business model working, not a weakness, and Brighton fans are very tired of explaining that.