(Football news) In the first leg of their Europa League last-16 match, Brighton were devastated 4-0 by Roma, and the Tricky Trees suffered a late blow to their season last weekend when they lost 1-0 to Liverpool.
The FA Cup exit to Wolverhampton Wanderers and the 3-0 Premier League humiliation at Fulham were followed by an even more crushing loss at the hands of surging Roma. This marks the first time in the Roberto De Zerbi era that Brighton has been subjected to three straight defeats across all competitions.
Paulo Dybala, Romelu Lukaku, Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Cristante got the goals which will surely spell the end of Brighton’s maiden European sojourn, unless De Zerbi’s out-of-sorts troops can pull off a Barcelona-esque second-leg fightback on March 14, a highly unlikely scenario amid their current predicament.
Not since his otherwise lauded stint at Sassuolo in January 2020 had De Zerbi been beaten three times in a row as a manager, and owing to last weekend’s shocking three-goal beatdown at the hands of Fulham, the ninth-placed hosts are now three points adrift of West Ham United in the final European place.
Demolishing Sheffield United 5-0 on February 18 was not a sign of things to come for Brighton, who have netted just once in their subsequent four fixtures and drawn blanks in each of their last three, but the sun often shines down onto the blue and white shirts at the Amex Stadium.
Indeed, the Seagulls enter Sunday’s game aiming to extend an applaudable 12-match unbeaten run on their home ground, where AEK Athens were the last visiting team to triumph on September 21, and not since August have De Zerbi’s men lost a top-flight contest at their Amex base.
Speaking of unbeaten home sequences, Liverpool had never won a Premier League game at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground prior to last weekend’s contest, but Jurgen Klopp’s men lifted that curse in controversial circumstances to leave the Tricky Trees forlorn and furious.
With no fewer than 99 minutes on the board, Darwin Nunez flicked a deft header into the bottom corner to snatch all three points for the Merseyside giants, but according to the laws of the game, the drop-ball that preceded Liverpool’s latest-ever winning goal in the Premier League should have gone the hosts’ way instead.
The heated aftermath saw Forest coach Steven Reid sent off and owner Evangelos Marinakis allegedly pursue the officials down the tunnel, and the club have now been hit with a misconduct charge by the FA, which they have until next Wednesday to respond to.
The Garibaldi are hovering just above the dotted line in 17th place, four points clear of Luton Town having played one more game. Nuno Espirito Santo and his playing staff are not worried about possible fines and punishments as they attempt to end their own three-game losing streak across all tournaments.
Although Brighton’s heart is in their home stadium, Forest has only picked up nine points away from home so far this season; only Burnley (eight) and Sheffield United (five) have picked up fewer. In addition, the Reds let a one-goal lead slip in a 3-2 loss to the Seagulls back in November.
