Brighton 2-1 Bournemouth: Danny Welbeck earns Seagulls fourth straight victory

Since being thrashed 7-0 by Nottingham Forest at the beginning of February, Brighton have beaten Chelsea – in the Premier League and FA Cup – Southampton and now Bournemouth to reignite their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.

Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler made two changes to the team that began the 4-0 win at St Mary’s on Saturday, restoring fit-again Pervis Estupinan to the XI and handing a first start to January signing Diego Gomez.

Paraguayan midfielder Gomez was at the heart of Brighton’s best attacking moves in the early stages, releasing Mitoma with a perfectly weighted through ball after nine minutes but the Japanese winger was unable to steer his effort on target.

Another fine Gomez pass led to the penalty from which Brighton took the lead, Pedro collecting the ball in his stride before being fouled by Arrizabalaga.

The visitors had the better of the chances in the second half and Brighton had Verbruggen to thank for keeping out Ouattara with the score at 1-1, before Welbeck’s composed finish earned the Seagulls a narrow victory.

It was Welbeck’s first goal since finding the net in a 2-2 draw with Wolves on 26 October and he now has 30 Premier League goals for Brighton – the joint-most for the club in the top-flight along with Pascal Gross.