Premier League match report: Brighton & Hove Albion 0-0 Ipswich Town

The Blues were under the cosh for most of the match, facing 19 shots across the 90 minutes. However, they managed to shut out the high-flying Seagulls - helped by some heroics from Arijanet Muric - to claim a point and their first clean sheet of the Premier League season.

A quick counter from Ipswich was the first of the game as Wes Burns flashed a ball across the face of goal. Leif Davis tried to get the right touch on it to turn take aim but couldn’t prevent it from rolling out for a goal kick.

Wes Burns returned from injury to start for Town (Image: Ross Halls)

It seemed to wake Brighton up. Immediately, Yankuba Minteh tried to isolate Davis in a one-v-one position up the other end, but the left-back stood strong to prevent the winger from breaking into the final third.

The Seagulls were looking for their first extended period of possession, which came inside the opening five minutes. Town tried to press but were caught out as Carlos Baleba beat Sam Morsy before taking aim from the edge of the area. His shot seemed destined to nestle into the bottom right corner, but Arijanet Muric kept it out.

The captain began to get overrun and was forced to clatter Georginio Rutter in the sixth minute, picking up his third booking of the campaign.

Sam Morsy picked up his third booking of the season early on in the game (Image: Ross Halls)

Ipswich found some problems playing out from the back, either walking straight into danger or trying to do it too quickly and giving the ball away. A miscommunication between Davis and Jacob Greaves saw the former pass the ball straight out of play for a corner in the 18th minute while the latter was forced to make a crucial tackle to deny Rutter soon after.

Brighton tried to turn their dominance into a lead. A quick give-and-go saw Minteh play the ball up to Yasin Ayari. He, in turn, picked out Mitoma, who fired a cross into the box. Rutter couldn’t get the final touch to turn it in.

A rare foray forward around the half-hour mark saw Sammie Szmodics played into space. He was quickly closed down before firing wide, but the flag was raised for offside.

Arijanet Muric kept the scores level in the first half (Image: Ross Halls)

It was Muric who saved the Blues heading into the break. First, he got down low to deny Danny Welbeck’s close-range header, getting down low to hold it. Then, with 10 minutes remaining, he kept out strikes from Rutter and Mitoma before the Japanese winger fired wide.

Brighton continued where they left off after the restart. Dara O'Shea was forced to make a good block to deny Minteh before Ayari was brough down by Phillips, picking up a booking and giving away a free-kick, which Welbeck fired just wide of the post.

Starved of time opportunities in the final third, Delap picked up the ball in a deep position and ran like his life depended on it. He shrugged of Jack Hinshelwood before going for goal, rifling a powerful shot off the post.

Liam Delap hit the post after a run from deep in the second half (Image: Ross Halls)

With George Hirst, Jack Clarke and Chiedozie Ogbene all introduced before the hour-mark, Ipswich found more time and space to get into the final third and run at Brighton's defenders. Testing Bart Verbruggen in the Seagulls' net was a challenge, however.

Their first shot on target came with around 20 minutes to play as Brighton's short corner bobbled straight past substitute Ferdi Kadioglu, allowing Hutchinson to pick it up and run from deep inside his own half. His final shot was tame, however, with the Dutch goalkeeper easily picking it up.

The final stages of the match were open, with Mitoma testing Muric before Evan Ferguson curled a shot past the post. Presented with late free-kicks to get the ball in the box, they still couldn't find a way through, with Ipswich taking a point back to Suffolk as a result.

Brighton XI: 4-2-3-1: Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Hinshelwood (Kadioglu (68'); Ayari, Baleba; Minteh (Adingra 68'), Rutter (Enciso 68'), Mitoma; Welbeck (Ferguson 85')

Town XI: 4-2-3-1: Muric; Tuanzebe, O'Shea, Greaves, Davis; Morsy (Luongo 85'), Phillips; Burns (Ogbene 59'), Hutchinson (Chaplin 85'), Szmodics (J. Clarke 59') ; Delap (Hirst 59')

Attendance: 31,573