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72 min: Triple change for Leicester Daniel Amartey, Jamie Vardy and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall replace Tielemans (who was superb), Iheanacho and Soumare.
Mac Allister put the penalty straight down the middle, with Ward diving to his right. That should be enough for Brighton, who have played some outstanding attacking football today.
GOAL! Brighton 4-2 Leicester (Mac Allister 71 pen)Alexis Mac Allister is on the scoresheet now.
The penalty stands. I think it was a foul. Even if it wasn’t, it certainly wasn’t a clear and obvious error.
VAR check! Oh good lord.
PENALTY TO BRIGHTON!70 min Trossard beats Ndidi with a glorious bit of skill near the byline. Ndidi shoves him over and the referee gives a penalty.
68 min: Good save from Ward! Pascal Gross is rampant at the moment. He protects the ball on the edge of the area, despite being surrounded, and eventually finds March to his left. March has a touch and splats a rising shot that is pushed round the near post by Ward.
66 min Tielemans’ cross from the right bounces up awkwardly at Daka, who flicks it wide of the near post.
Mac Allister picked up a loose ball 30 yards from goal and gave it to Gross. He cleverly allowed the ball to run across his body to make the angle for a flicked pass to Trossard in the area. Trossard waited for Ward to sit down and arced the ball into the far corner. A lovely finish, and VAR can find nothing wrong with it. The goal stands.
GOAL? Brighton 3-2 Leicester (Trossard 64)If it stands, this is another really good goal from Brighton.
63 min “I don’t think VAR is the issue; it’s the jobsworth mentality of English officials,” says Richard Parkinson. “You don’t tend to see anything like this number of dodgy calls in Serie A or Ligue 1.”
There’s probably something in that. From memory it worked surprisingly well at the World Cup and Euro 2021.
62 min Nor is Gary.
I say this as a @LCFC fan: these VAR decisions are sucking the life and joy out of the game.
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) September 4, 2022 62 min Ian’s not a fan.
61 min: Good save from Ward! Lovely play from Brighton. After a long passing move, Trossard plays a terrific reverse pass to find Mwepu on the left side of the area. He whips a shot from a very tight angle that is well blocked by Ward.
60 min “A couple of unsolicited thoughts on VAR, Rob,” says Ewan Benson. “If we must persist with VAR, then they should be given 30 seconds max to make the decision. If they can’t, then the decision on the pitch should stand. If there needs to be a benefit of the doubt, the striker (or goalscorer) should be the one who receives it.”
They didn’t trial it properly. They barely trialled it at all. All the problems stem for that.
60 min Nothing’s happening on the field by the way. It’s almost as if VAR has temporarily sucked all the joy and vitality from a hitherto superb game.
59 min Nor is Danny.
Well done VAR again, you blood-sucking joy-vacuum. Another great goal wiped off WITH NOT ONE LEICESTER PLAYER APPEALING. VAR now totally in charge of the English game. No explanation, no accountability, just robotic searches for any reason to ruin the game as a spectacle. #VARout
— Danny Kelly (@dannykellywords) September 4, 2022 58 min Jeff isn’t a fan.
Well done VAR . One of the great goals ruled out for something nobody even appealed for. It’s a total shambles as it has been from its inception
— Jeff Stelling (@JeffStelling) September 4, 2022 57 min Gross has a long-range shot blocked by Evans. Nothing much has happened since the disallowed goal.
55 min “For years it’s been assumed that whenever a managerial job comes up at one of the traditional top six clubs that no English manager would be seriously considered,” says David Wall. “Given how well Potter is doing at Brighton, and Howe at Newcastle, might that have changed? If it’s true that Klopp has seven-year limit, or if Chelsea lose patience with Tuchel, might either consider Potter?”
Personally I doubt it. I think the culture is too entrenched now. I suppose it’ll change eventually, everything does, but I don’t think we’re there yet.
52 min So. The reason it was disallowed is that Mwepu, in an offside position, fresh-aired an attempted overhead kick. Justin then headed the ball away to Mac Allister, whose heatseeker flew into the top corner.
NO GOAL! Brighton 2-2 LeicesterWell done everyone. Alexis Mac Allister has just scored one of the great disallowed goals.
The referee is going to the monitor I have no idea what’s happening. I think the referee has been asked to decide whether Mwepu and/or Webster were interfering with play. I suspect the goal will be disallowed.
Brighton and Hove Albion fans wait for a ridiculously long VAR check. Photograph: Steven Paston/PAMwepu looked in an offside position from the free-kick, and missed with an overhead kick just before Justin headed it away. I don’t think Mwepu touched the ball, though, so does that mean he wasn’t interfering with play? I have no idea any more.
VAR check for offside Oh dear lord.
Gross’s free-kick from the left was headed away by Justin towards Mac Allister, 25 yards out. He watched the bounce and thrashed a spectacular half-volley that whistled across Ward and right into the top corner.
GOAL! Brighton 3-2 Leicester (Mac Allister 47)What a strike from Alexis Mac Allister!
Alexis Mac Allister of Brighton and Hove Albion scores with a rasping drive. Photograph: James Marsh/REX/ShutterstockAlexis Mac Allister of Brighton & Hove Albion celebrates after netting a howitzer. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images46 min Peep peep! Brighton begin the second half. Timothy Castagne has replaced Harvey Barnes for Leicester, which might mean a switch to 3-5-2.
Watch Patson Daka’s equaliser
Half-time reading
Half time: Brighton 2-2 LeicesterPeep peep! A richly entertaining half comes to an end. Leicester took the lead after 51 seconds, were battered for half an hour – during which time they went 2-1 down – and then equalised against the run of play. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45+2 min After a bit of pinball in the Leicester area, Gross guides a clever header back to Caicedo in the D. He belts the bouncing ball high and wide.
45 min Three minutes of added fun.
45 min Trossard’s floated cross is headed wide by March, arriving late at the far post. In fact, replays show it came off his shoulder as he jumped into a crowd of players.
42 min: Chance for Leicester! Maddison’s pass towards Justin is intercepted by Trossard but the ball bounces nicely for Barnes just inside the area. He hammers a first-time shot that is beaten away by Sanchez. It was well struck but too close ot the keeper.
41 min “There’s something pleasingly asymmetrical about the way Potter has set Brighton up,” says Kári Tulinius. “The lines are never predictable, it reminds me a bit of the old Italian zona mista. France at the 2018 World Cup had some of that legacy, though they were more defensive.”
40 min The second corner is half cleared to Mwepu, who shoots well wide from distance.
39 min Gross’s inswinging corner is flapped behind for another by Ward, who almost ran past the ball. He looks pretty nervous.
37 min A Brighton corner finds its way through to Dunk, whose shot from the edge of the area is blocked by one of his own team-mates.
34 min “Afternoon Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “In response to your observation about Brighton’s bonkers formation, I reckon Brendon is absolutely fuming that he’s been ‘Out-Rodgersed’ by Graham Potter (a man who looks like he runs a Paul Weller fan club).”
Brendan Rodgers brought in two centre-forwards to replace Jamie Vardy, and they have both scored. Tielemans lofted a superb long pass that was missed by the stretching Dunk, which allowed Daka to run through on goal. He took a couple of touches and finished emphatically past the outrushing Sanchez.
GOAL! Brighton 2-2 Leicester (Daka 33)Leicester equalise out of nothing!
Patson Daka of Leicester City scores. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty ImagesLeicester City’s Patson Daka celebrates scoring their second goal. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters31 min Ward makes a good save with his legs to deny Gross, though it wouldn’t have counted as he was offside.
29 min: Just over from Welbeck! Leicester are all over the place. Ward takes too long over a backpass from Ndidi and is robbed by Welbeck. The touch takes Welbeck very wide on the left, but he retrieves the ball and floats a chip over Ward and onto the roof of the net. Ward and Ndidi have a brief slanging match, with Ward snarling “eff off” at the precise moment the camera homes in on him.
28 min March cuts inside from the left before shooting high and wide from 25 yards. Games chance quickly, we know that, but at the moment Brighton are well on top. Leicester look mentally weary.
27 min The Brighton system is fascinating – as far as I can tell*, they are essentially playing with a midfield diamond and wing-backs. But Gross in particular is very flexible; at times he’s almost playing as a second right wing-back.
26 min “Strange goalkeeping by Ward on the second goal,” says Rob Jacques. “At the moment Caceido struck his shot, the goalkeeper turned his head away and seemed to be guarding an area about a foot outside his near post…”
Oh yes, I see what you mean. Not sure he’d have saved it anyway, mind you.
🇪🇨 𝐄𝐂𝐔𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐂𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘! 🇪🇨
It is raining goals at the Amex! Moisés Caicedo has turned this game on its head. We’ve only played 15 minutes… 😮 pic.twitter.com/3ndZ78CBWr
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 4, 2022