Brighton 5-2 Leicester: Seagulls go fourth with emphatic Foxes win

Brighton bounced back from defeat at Fulham in midweek to comprehensively beat Leicester 5-2 at the AMEX.

Leicester went ahead in the first minute through Kelechi Iheanacho, but Luke Thomas’ own goal and Moises Caicedo’s thumping finish had the Seagulls ahead soon after.

Patson Daka restored parity against the run of play just after the half-hour mark before Alexis Mac Allister had a goal of the season contender ruled out for offside at the start of the second half.

However, the Foxes remained disorganised at the back and Leandro Trossard’s strike coupled with Mac Allister’s penalty saw Albion comfortably over the line. Mac Allister put a fifth past Danny Ward with a magical free kick in stoppage time.

Brighton are now up to fourth in the Premier League as they continue their excellent start to the season, while pressure remains on Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, whose side are rooted to the bottom of the table.

For a side surrounded by doom and gloom, Leicester made a perfect start as Iheanacho tucked in Daka’s cutback just 51 seconds into the encounter.

However, the Seagulls looked dangerous each time they marauded forward and found their equaliser as Solly March headed against Thomas at the back stick for an own goal.

By the 15th minute, Brighton had taken the lead. James Maddison was caught dawdling on the ball by Enock Mwepu, who charged upfield virtually unopposed before feeding Caicedo, who smashed his effort into the far corner.

Brighton continued to press forward as March smashed wildly over before Danny Ward had a nightmare moment, with his attempted clearance falling straight to Danny Welbeck. The striker’s lifted effort at the open goal was from an acute angle and nestled on top of the goal.

Despite their sloppiness in possession, Leicester found a moment of quality to drag themselves back on level terms. Youri Tielemans caught out Lewis Dunk with a sprayed ball over the top and Daka raced through, finishing with confidence at Robert Sanchez’s near post.

Brighton looked to have put themselves ahead shortly after the break as Mac Allister lashed in a stunner from the edge of the area. However, VAR intervened during a weekend when the system is being roundly criticised for marginal calls on Saturday and the goal was eventually ruled out, with Mwepu deemed to have interfered with play from an offside position.

It took around five minutes for the decision to be made but it didn’t deter Brighton, who continued to enjoy the best chances before fine interplay between Leandro Trossard and Pascal Gross saw the Belgian tuck into the far corner to finally make it 3-2.

Leicester continued to look hapless at the back in the face of Brighton’s attack and Wilfred Ndidi was the next Foxes player to have a shocker. Trossard took the ball to the byline and escaped Ndidi, who clumsily brought him down in the area.

Mac Allister took the penalty and scored the goal his excellent performance deserved, having so cruelly seen a stunner ruled out earlier. He got a second in stoppage time, curling a perfect free kick into the top corner to earn Brighton a 5-2 win.