Brighton 2-0 Burnley: Winless run goes on as passive Clarets start 2026 with a whimper
The start of Burnley’s 2026 ended just as miserably as their 2025 ended courtesy of a woeful defeat at Brighton.
The Clarets barely managed to lay a glove on the Seagulls as they stretched their winless run to 11 games, meaning their wait for a win now extends to 70 days.
Since their last three points, the 3-2 win at Wolves in October, Burnley have picked up just two points out of a possible 33.
Scott Parker’s side were passive throughout, opting to sit back and await their fate against a Brighton side that didn’t even have to work particularly hard for their goals.
While the Clarets were well beaten and outclassed, they created their own problems at times with their toothless approach, while also conceding right after half time after playing themselves in trouble on the edge of their own box.
Parker opted to shuffle the pack again amid a busy fixture list as he made three changes from the midweek defeat to Newcastle.
Maxime Esteve dropped out as expected after suffering a recurrence of the injury that saw him miss the games against Bournemouth and Everton, with Bashir Humphreys taking his place.
Jaidon Anthony and Jacob Bruun Larsen, meanwhile, came in for Marcus Edwards and Loum Tchaouna.
The Burnley Express understands Edwards’ dropping was a case of Parker managing the winger’s minutes amid the busy festive schedule.
Considering the 27-year-old hasn’t played regularly this season, the Clarets opted to proceed with caution with Edwards with another game coming up on Wednesday against Manchester United.
Mike Tresor was missing from the bench through injury, while Quilindschy Hartman was left out once again.
With 11 players absent, youngsters Oliver Pimlott and George Brierley were both named on the bench.
Esteve and Tresor join Jordan Beyer, Joe Worrall, Connor Roberts, Josh Cullen, Zeki Amdouni and Zian Flemming on the injury list, while Axel Tuanzebe, Hannibal and Lyle Foster are all away at AFCON.
As for Brighton, they made four changes from their 2-2 draw against West Ham as James Milner, Maxim De Cuyper, Yankuba Minteh and Danny Welbeck dropped out.
Fan favourite Pascal Gross was named on the bench after making a return from Borussia Dortmund.
It was the hosts who created the first opening of the afternoon as Kaoru Mitoma swung in a dangerous corner that Joel Veltman could only flick over at the near post.
In the 10th minute, Charalampos Kostoulas had the ball in the back of the net for Brighton, drilling past Martin Dubravka after getting the wrong side of Lucas Pires.
But the linesman immediately raised his flag for offside and the decision stood by the tightest of margins after a VAR check.
Burnley weren’t convincing at all during the early stages, allowing Brighton to play through them far too easily while offering very little on the rare occasions they did win the ball back.
Brighton skipper Lewis Dunk, all 6ft 4ins of him, was given a free header eight yards out from a wide free kick, but luckily for the Clarets the defender failed to control his header, which flew narrowly over.
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Although Burnley were beginning to grow into the game, slowly but surely, the home side opened the scoring just before the half-hour mark.
True to form, it was a soft goal to concede, with Georginio Rutter slamming a low shot beyond Dubravka and into the far corner after a spot of pinball inside the Burnley box.
For as bad as Burnley had been during the first-half, they ought to have gone in level when they finally created a presentable opening in the final minute.
Jacob Bruun Larsen was the creator, playing in Lucas Pires who was well denied by Seagulls keeper Bart Verbruggen.
It proved to be a costly miss because, rather than react after the interval, they went two goals down.
It was all of their own doing too, as Lesley Ugochukwu played Florentino into trouble with a hospital ball on the edge of the Burnley box. The ball ricocheted to Yasin Ayari, who did the rest by drilling his low shot into the far corner.
Two almost instantly became three, as Kostoulas could only shoot straight at Dubravka after Florentino was dispossessed in dangerous territory once again.
After a series of changes, Burnley were unfortunate not to get back in the game midway through the half when one of those substitutes, Loum Tchaouna, was denied by the woodwork.
It came after Verbruggen made a hash of dealing with a deep corner, allowing Tchaouna to head over the Seagulls keeper and towards goal, but Kadioglu did well to head it onto the underside of the crossbar.
That proved to be Burnley’s last real chance, as Brighton saw out the remainder of the game with real ease.
In fact, they took the mickey during the final stages, ole-ing as they demanded a goal from their returning hero Gross off the bench.
The hosts almost added further gloss to their victory six minutes from time when Maxim De Cuyper rattled the post with a 25-yard free-kick.
Burnley had a late VAR check for a penalty when the ball hit James Milner’s arm inside the box, but nothing was given and, even it it had been, a converted spot kick would have only been a late consolation, nothing else.
TEAMS
Brighton: Verbruggen, Dunk, van Hecke, Gruda, Rutter (Welbeck), Kostoualas (Gross), Mitoma (De Cuyper), Kadioglu, Gomez, Ayari, Veltman
Subs not used: Steele, Boscagli, Coppola, Hinshelwood, Milner, Watson
Burnley: Dubravka, Walker, Laurent, Ekdal, Humphreys, Pires, Florentino, Ugochukwu (Sonne), Bruun Larsen (Edwards), Anthony (Banel), Broja (Tchaouna)
Subs not used: Weiss, Pimlott, Brierley, Agyei, Barnes
Referee: Tim Robinson
Attendance: 31,373
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