Brighton came up with an important answer to their recent problems with their first win in 12 Premier League matches, boss Graham Potter has said.

Leandro Trossard’s sublime lob and Neal Maupay’s wonderful curling strike saw Brighton move up to ninth in the table.

They had seen their promising start to the season slip away in recent months, but are still nine points better off than at the corresponding stage last season.

“Today felt like a result was important for us,” Potter said. “You need to win and today it was important to get those three points. It has been a long time [since our last win] and we had to answer those statistics.

“We are trying to develop. It is not easy but we are trying that. We will continue to work. To get those points is a good return for us and we need to keep working.”

Brighton dominated for long periods, with former Bees forward Maupay and Enock Mwepu both guilty of slashing good chances wildly wide, while Dan Burn headed against the crossbar early on.

Alexis Mac Allister also went close to adding to the scoreline against a Brentford team that sporadically threatened but did not click into gear until it was too late.

Aside from early opportunities for Bryan Mbeumo and Shandon Baptiste, the visitors’ best moments were contained to an eight-minute spell in the second half when home goalkeeper Robert Sanchez superbly saved Baptiste’s deflected drive and turned away Ethan Pinnock’s header.

Another goal-bound Pinnock effort was headed to safety by left-back Marc Cucurella, and Brighton deserved the win to complete the double over their opponents, who have dropped to 13th in the table.

Maupay and Trossard star

Brighton’s longstanding problems in front of goal have been evident in a sequence containing eight draws, but this rarely looked like being one of those frustrating occasions.

With Burn’s header instigating a sustained period of pressure, Potter saw his team record two first-half goals in a league game for the first time since their opening home fixture of the season against Watford.

Maupay and Trossard’s intelligent running troubled the visiting defence all evening, with Brentford goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez having little chance with either finish.

The duo have now contributed almost 70% of the club’s top-flight goals this term.

Potter will also be buoyed by the return to fitness of Danny Welbeck and Pascal Gross, who were both given second-half run-outs and have the capacity to add some much-needed support to Brighton’s leading marksmen.

Blunt Bees

Brentford have now lost as many Premier League games this season (seven) as they did in their entire Championship campaign last term.

Thomas Frank can have few complaints about the outcome here, with his side failing to capitalise on the chances they did carve out and only stepping up their intensity after falling two goals behind.

Mbeumo’s early attempted lob lacked the power to reach the Brighton goal and was indicative of what was to follow in a game in which they did not do enough at either end of the pitch.

However, Frank and his players will be heartened that, with almost half of the season gone, they have a healthy nine-point gap to the relegation zone and plenty to build on in the remainder of the season.

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