Brighton crashed to their worst Premier League home defeat to leave themselves in serious relegation trouble as Bournemouth ended their recent slump in style.
Goals from Dan Gosling, Ryan Fraser, David Brooks, Callum Wilson and Junior Stanislas secured a thumping 5-0 victory for the visitors.
It was only the Cherries’ second win their last 10 matches, but it took them past the 40-point mark to end any lingering fears they had of being dragged into trouble.
For Brighton, though, the problems are mounting, their run to the FA Cup semi-final masking dreadful form which has seen them collect just eight points since the turn of the year.
FULL-TIME Brighton 0-5 AFC Bournemouth
Five goals. Five different scorers. A first win in four matches for the Cherries #BHABOU pic.twitter.com/HqhwsYa5dr— Premier League (@premierleague) April 13, 2019
Their only saving grace was a defeat too for 18th-placed Cardiff, but Neil Warnock’s side will travel to the Amex Stadium on Tuesday night for a crucial match knowing victory will cut the gap to just two points.
Brighton will also be without mercurial winger Anthony Knockaert for that game, and the two that follow, after he was sent off for scything down Adam Smith.
Worryingly, Chris Hughton’s side simply do not look like scoring. They have drawn a blank in their last four matches and in that time have mustered only five efforts on target.
This was the first part of a crucial home double-header, and it went spectacularly wrong.
