Brighton 2-0 Burnley: Rutter and Ayari get hosts back to winning ways

Brighton got back to winning ways following a 2-0 victory over Burnley at the American Express Stadium.

Goals from Georginio Rutter and Yasin Ayari ended the Seagulls’ run of six Premier League matches without a win.

Fabian Hurzeler’s side made a purposeful start to the contest. After Joel Veltman headed over, they thought they had taken the lead when Charalampos Koustoulas drilled home, only to be denied by the offside flag.

Lewis Dunk then headed over from Ferdi Kadioglu’s free-kick before the hosts broke the deadlock on 29 minutes. Ayari’s shot deflected off Koustoulas and straight to Rutter, who drove the ball past Martin Dubravka.

At the other end, Lucas Pires called Bart Verbruggen into action in first-half stoppage time, but the hosts doubled their lead just after half-time.

Burnley were sloppy on the edge of their own penalty area, and Ayari pounced by drilling a reverse shot beyond Dubravka and into the bottom-left corner.

Loum Tchaouna almost reduced the visitors’ arrears midway through the second half, when his header was cleared off the line by Kadioglu.

Maxim De Cuyper went close to adding a third for Brighton later on when his well-struck free-kick crashed against the post, but the two-goal margin was more than enough to secure a much-needed win.

BACK TO WINNING WAYS IN THE #PL!pic.twitter.com/N5YShjctxI

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) January 3, 2026

Data Debrief: Seagulls stop winless streak as Milner breaks new ground

Brighton ended their winless streak, and have now lost just one of their last 14 Premier League home matches.

At 18 years and 218 days, Kostoulas became the youngest Greek player to start a Premier League match, overtaking Charalampos Mavrias’ previous record of 19 years and 205 days for Sunderland against Arsenal in September 2013.

Koustoulas is also the third-youngest player to assist a Premier League goal for Brighton, after Evan Ferguson (18 years, 76 days) and Facundo Buonanotte (18 years, 71 days).

Ayari’s goal, timed at 46:07, was Brighton’s earliest top-flight goal at the start of either half since September 2023 (45:16).

James Milner, one day before his 40th birthday, came off the bench later on. The midfielder became the first player to play a Premier League game in 25 successive calendar years (since 2002).