10-man Brighton hold off Sunderland to stay in Premier League's top four

Brighton climbed into the Premier League’s top four with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, holding on with 10 men for the final half-hour after Pascal Struijk was sent off following a VAR review.

The game’s decisive spell was compressed into a frantic four-minute window early in the second half. Pascal Gross threaded a pass through Sunderland’s defence in the 53rd minute to release Maxim De Cuyper, who placed the ball into the bottom corner for the opener. Four minutes later, referee Tom Bramall dismissed Struijk after a VAR review for denying a goalscoring opportunity, leaving Brighton to defend their lead with a numerical disadvantage.

Sunderland, who had struggled to create clear chances throughout, could not capitalise on the extra man. Brighton punished them on the counter-attack in the third minute of stoppage time, with Jaouen Hadjam finishing to seal the points and end any lingering doubt.

The result leaves Brighton in the top four, continuing what has been a remarkable early-season run that included a 3-0 win over Arsenal in their previous outing. Sunderland, by contrast, are left hovering just above the relegation zone after a second heavy defeat in two league games — they were beaten 5-3 by Manchester City before the international break.

Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris made three changes from that City loss, bringing in Trai Hume, Reinildo Mandava and Wilson Isidor. Brighton were unchanged and looked the more composed side for long stretches, with Robin Roefs making a series of saves to keep the hosts at bay before the goals arrived.

Isidor had Sunderland’s best chance of the first half, meeting a low cross from Enzo Le Fee only to see his sliding effort deflected behind. Thomas Meunier also forced a sharp stop from Ferdi Kadioglu before going off injured in the 34th minute, replaced by Malick Fofana.

Brighton’s Struijk had even struck the post with a header on the stroke of half-time, underlining how the game ebbed and flowed before the second half brought its decisive moments.