Last updated: 10 October 2026, 10.02pm BST.
Brighton beat Sunderland 2–0 at the Stadium of Light on Saturday 10 October, holding their lead after Pascal Struijk’s dismissal before adding a stoppage-time second goal. The result keeps Albion third in the Premier League on 13 points from six matches.
How Brighton beat Sunderland with ten men
After a goalless first half, De Cuyper opened the scoring eight minutes after the restart. Albion’s official match centre records Pascal Groß’s assist.
The lead was barely established when Brighton’s task became harder. Struijk’s card was upgraded following a VAR review and the defender was dismissed in the 57th minute. Three minutes later, Lewis Dunk replaced Charalampos Kostoulas.
Dunk’s appearance completes the return anticipated in our pre-match team-news report. The captain had been named among the substitutes.
Albion held on, then two late substitutes combined to settle the match. Georginio Rutter and Hadjam came on in the 88th minute; Rutter supplied the through ball for Hadjam’s finish in the third minute of added time.
What the result means for Albion
The club’s table at the time of this update shows four wins, one draw and one defeat, with Brighton two points behind both Manchester City and Arsenal. City have played one match fewer, so the positions need that qualification.
Sky Sports’ match report identifies this as Albion’s third successive league victory without conceding. For supporters in Sussex, that is a more useful measure of the current run than treating an early third-place position as a prediction for May.
Brighton Locals’ view
Our assessment: the value of this win lies in Brighton’s response to the dismissal. They protected a narrow advantage for more than half an hour and still found a decisive counterattack. Dunk’s return and the late substitutes’ contribution are encouraging signs of available options. Six league matches remain too small a sample to declare a lasting change in the club’s ceiling.
What supporters should do next
Use the official match-centre links above for the scoring sequence, line-ups and current standings. The Sky Sports report provides a legitimate route to free highlights, avoiding unofficial streaming links.
Watch next for confirmed disciplinary information following Struijk’s red card and the club’s next team update. This report does not assume a suspension length or outcome of any potential appeal.
Albion leave Sunderland with three points, another clean sheet and evidence that they can protect a lead under pressure. The next test is sustaining that standard.
Featured image: Stadium of Light, Sunderland, photographed on 2 June 2018. It does not show today’s match. Chabe01 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; resized.
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