Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen matched a remarkable Premier League milestone after playing a key role in his side’s convincing 3-0 victory over Chelsea at the Amex Stadium on Friday night.
The Dutch shot-stopper produced a moment of brilliance to set Brighton on their way, delivering a perfectly weighted long pass that found Kaoru Mitoma. The Japanese winger controlled the ball superbly, skipped past Chelsea defender Trevor Chalobah, and calmly slotted home to give the Seagulls an early advantage.
Brighton maintained their dominance throughout the encounter, with Yankuba Minteh stealing the spotlight by scoring twice to complete an emphatic win over Enzo Maresca’s side.
The result capped another impressive performance from the Seagulls, who looked dangerous from start to finish and comfortably outclassed the visitors.
Verbruggen’s assist saw him become the fifth different goalkeeper to register a Premier League assist during the 2024/25 campaign. He joins Manchester City’s Ederson, Brentford’s Mark Flekken, Everton’s Jordan Pickford, and Fulham’s Bernd Leno in achieving the feat.
The achievement also equals the highest number of goalkeepers providing assists in a single Premier League season since the 2010/11 campaign, underlining the growing importance of modern goalkeepers in building attacks from deep.
The victory continued Brighton’s recent dominance over Chelsea, having already knocked the Blues out of the Emirates FA Cup just a week earlier. Fabian Hürzeler’s men will hope to build on their impressive form as they continue their push for a strong finish in the Premier League.
