Wolves suffered a third successive Premier League defeat, as a dominant Brighton & Hove Albion ran out comfortable winners at Molineux. The hosts rarely threatened to end their poor run of form in front of goal, while the visitors recovered from a penalty miss to breeze to victory in the West Midlands.
Alexis Mac Allister had already struck the woodwork from the spot, before Wolves gifted him a second opportunity he duly took. Bruno Lage rang the changes at the break, but instead Brighton upped the ante further and Leandro Trossard and Yves Bissouma added to the pain for the old gold, whose hopes of European football appear to be slipping away.
Wolves had spent much of April on the road, but back on home soil, they could have fell behind in the opening stages. Both of Brighton’s early chances fell the way of Enock Mwepu, who first forced Jose Sa into a fine one-handed save, before trying his luck from distance soon after, but being denied by a more routine save by the Portuguese.
At the other end, Wolves’ flurries forward were threatening, but Robert Sanchez remained untested. First, Hee Chan Hwang and Leander Dendoncker combined, but Fabio Silva had peeled off and missed the opportunity to connect at the back post. Then Silva played in Hwang down the left and he picked out Joao Moutinho, but the veteran’s strike was blocked behind.
One of the first-half’s two major talking point arrived just after the half-hour mark when Solly March’s cross caught the arm of Romain Saiss who, after a VAR review, was penalised. Mac Allister stood up, with Wolves facing their 15th penalty of the last two seasons, however on this occasion the Argentine fired against the foot of the post.
That let-off was almost wasted seconds later when Trossard’s shot deflected goalwards, but Sa stuck out a left boot and reacted impressively to save. However, with the break approaching, Brighton were given another opportunity to take the lead. This time Willy Boly tripped Danny Welbeck and up stepped Mac Allister again, but he made no mistake this time, going the same way and firing home, despite the touch from Sa.
Half-time | Wolves 0-1 Brighton
Having finished the first period well, the Seagulls maintained their momentum after the break and both Bissouma and Welbeck threatened in the opening two minutes of the second period. At the break, Lage had introduced Pedro Neto and Raul Jimenez, and it wasn’t long after when Nelson Semedo went to ground holding his hamstring, forcing Jonny on, meaning Wolves had a much different look to get back into the game.
However, the changes were doing little to spark Wolves into life. Neto did put a cross in for the head of Boly, but the defender got too much on his effort and it sailed over for a goal kick. But it was Brighton who took the initiative with Saiss out of position, as Trossard charged into the area, turned past Moutinho into a shooting position and he did exactly that, firing beyond Sa.
Wolves should have at least found a route back into the game with five remaining, when Neto’s shot fell for Boly, but the defender couldn’t find the right connection, as Sanchez produced a comfortable catch. Instead, Albion took the opportunity to add further gloss to the scoreline as Bissouma got the better of Jonny and rolled into the corner, beyond the dive of Sa.
In the dying embers of the game, Neto struck the foot of the post and Hwang couldn’t turn in the rebound, but by that point Molineux was half empty on a disappointing afternoon for the hosts.
Full-time | Wolves 0-3 Brighton
Wolves | Sa, Semedo (Jonny 52), Boly, Coady, Saiss, Ait-Nouri, Neves (Neto 46), Moutinho, Dendoncker, Hwang, Silva (Jimenez 46).
Unused subs | Ruddy, Marcal, Toti, Cundle, Cundle, Chiquinho.
Brighton | Sanchez, Cucurella, Dunk, Veltman, March (Lamptey 87), Caicedo, Bissouma, Mwepu (Webster 63), Mac Allister, Trossard (Gross 89), Welbeck.
Unused subs | Steele, Maupay, Lallana, Alzate, Duffy, Ferguson.
