Burnley 1 – 1 Brighton. An unmarked Lewis Dunk opened the scoring for the visitors, heading home Pascal Gross’ corner in the 36th minute. Burnley missed a flurry of second-half chances at Turf Moor as they shared the points with Brighton in the Premier League.
But the Clarets were good value for their 53rd-minute equaliser with Johann Berg Gudmundsson finding the bottom corner after Brighton keeper Robert Sanchez had parried away an Ashley Barnes effort.
And Sanchez was called into action repeatedly late on with Matej Vydra having the pick of the chances, but his 71st-minute close-range effort was well saved. Coming into this fixture, Burnley had suffered back-to-back defeats having not had a shot on target in either game.
But the hosts repeatedly created chances this time out, with Dwight McNeil seeing a free-kick and close-range effort well saved by Spaniard Sanchez in the first half. And once Gudmundsson levelled with his first goal since August 2019, the Clarets dominated the second period.
Dunk did well to block Barnes’ side-footed shot after 57 minutes before the forward headed home a Gudmundsson cross only to be ruled out for offside. Barnes turned provider late on, teeing up Vydra who was unable to poke the ball beyond Sanchez when through on goal.
Brighton’s defence remained resolute with both sides seemingly content with a point at full-time. Only Manchester City had collected more points from their past four Premier League games than Brighton before today.
The Seagulls’ excellent form had seen them keep four consecutive top-flight clean sheets for the first time in the club’s history. And it was centre-back Dunk who put the visitors in front with his third goal of the season after poor marking in the penalty area.
Aaron Connolly twice went close to doubling Brighton’s advantage with half-chances either side of the break. But the Seagulls rarely threatened after the hour mark, with a draw putting them 11 points clear of the drop in 15th, while Burnley remains 17th, nine points ahead of 18th-placed Fulham.
Yet another draw – the stats
- Burnley are without a win in three Premier League games (D1 L2) and have won just two of their past seven (D1 L4) after winning four of the eight before that.
- Brighton are unbeaten in five Premier League games (W3 D2), their joint-longest run without defeat in the competition, last doing so in March 2018.
- Eight of the past 11 league meetings between these two sides have ended in draws.
- Since Brighton were promoted to the Premier League in 2017, Lewis Dunk has netted nine top-flight goals, a figure only three other defenders can better – Marcos Alonso 14, Patrick van Aanholt 11 and Virgil van Dijk 10.
- Johann Gudmundsson’s strike for Burnley ended a run of 458 minutes without a goal conceded by Brighton in the Premier League.