Pascal Gross claims that during Brighton’s 90-minute match against Everton on Saturday, they were the superior team.
After requiring a late own goal from Ashley Young to secure a draw on Merseyside, Albion’s Premier League losing streak now stands at five games at Goodison Park.
After just seven minutes, Vitaliy Mykolenko gave the Toffees the lead when his shot passed Bart Verbruggen in the Brighton goal after taking a significant deflection off Lewis Dunk.
After VAR ruled that Dunk’s half-volley had been offside, the Seagulls captain thought he had equalized. Dunk then forced Jordan Pickford into a fantastic save with a second-half free-kick.
With six minutes remaining, Kaoru Mitoma forced the equalizer after Young misplayed his ball into the Everton penalty area, sending the Japanese international into his own net.
“I think we were the better team for ninety minutes straight after the game,” Gross stated on the official Brighton website. “They played for a result from the first minute, and we came here to play active football and win the game.
“Our strategies for the game were different. I’m proud of the boys for our perseverance. It’s a well-deserved point. They countered by defending deep in a block. It’s cat and mouse since you have to take care of the rest of the defense. Even though it wasn’t what we were hoping for, we managed to stay in the game and earn a point.”
Out of the fifteen games Brighton has played this season in three different tournaments, they have won six, drawn four, and lost five. With 18 points from 11 Premier League games, they are four points ahead of where they were this time last year. Gross points out that Albion has recently competed against some of the top teams in the nation as they continue to search for their first league victory since September.
“Of course we want to win, but we also push other teams to their limits,” the German continued. We had the opportunity to win and lose the games against Liverpool and City. Although it’s not always going that way, we want to win the next game.
“I believe we’re handling the extra fixtures extremely well. We’ve been unlucky in many games and with a few severe injuries, but we’re getting along well with our boss thanks to the quality of our training. Because of our great luck, we will continue.”
The next game Albion plays is in the Europa League on Thursday night, when they go to Amsterdam to play Ajax. In the rematch, the Seagulls defeated the Dutch team 2-0 at the Amex Stadium last month.
