Brighton inflicted a 21st Premier League defeat of the season on lowly Southampton as they eased to a 4-0 win at St Mary’s.
Joao Pedro put Fabian Hurzeler’s side in front at the break and, after Cameron Archer’s ‘equaliser’ was ruled out by the offside flag, the Seagulls ran riot with further strikes from Georginio Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma and Jack Hinshelwood.
The result leaves bottom side Southampton 13 points from safety with 12 games left to play and propels Brighton up to eighth and back into contention for European qualification.
Southampton haven’t often had luck on their side this season and that continued early on, with Lesley Ugochukwu booked after less than 120 seconds for a reckless tackle on Pedro and Jan Bednarek taken off with an injury to his left leg after 12 minutes.
Brighton then started to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Carlos Baleba’s free-kick bounced just over the bar after Tyler Dibling’s headed clearance, before Mitoma broke free of two defenders to connect with a cross from the right, though a poor first touch let him down with the goal gaping.
Joao Pedro scored Brighton’s first at St Mary’s
Midway through the first half, they broke through the door they had been knocking on. Bednarek’s replacement Armel Bella-Kotchap – making his first Saints appearance since August – inadvertently helped Pedro’s touch onto Rutter, who set the Brazilian on his way to bearing down on goal and coolly dinking over Aaron Ramsdale.
Early in the second half, the roof nearly came off St Mary’s when Archer latched onto a through ball and tucked past Bart Verbruggen. But the atmosphere quickly became muted again after he was flagged offside; a decision backed up by VAR after a swift review.
There was to be no coming back from that. Rutter’s presence forced makeshift centre-back Joe Aribo into a mistake and, after Yankuba Minteh’s square ball, the French striker tapped home to double the lead. Appeals for a foul from the hosts went unanswered.
The third followed less than 15 minutes later, when Joao Pedro’s deft touch in the centre circle set Mitoma on his way forward before he found the net with a dinked finish.
And when Jack Hinshelwood managed to chest the ball down and finish from seven yards out after a corner to make it four, hundreds of Saints fans made for the exit after another humbling.
