Debut for Zambia's Mwepu as Brighton claim victory against Burnley

Zambia international Enock Mwepu made his Brighton & Hove Albion Premier League debut as his side claimed a 2-1 win over Burnley on Saturday at Turf Moor.

Mwepu was signed by the Premier League club from RB Salzburg for £10m and played in the entire first half before he was replaced by Adam Lallana in the 46th minute. 

Burnley claimed an opener in the third minute when James Tarkowski scored with a close-range header that found the right top corner. Ashley Westwood collected the ball from a corner and picked the scorer to enable the home side to take an early lead.

There was a chance for Burnley - who had been pinned into their own half - in the 30th minute after they broke on a counter-attack that was engineered by Wood who laid the ball for Jay Rodriguez, but the latter, with enough space, fired straight into the hands of Nick Pope. 

There was another great chance for Burnley to get the second goal in the 35th minute when goalkeeper Robert Sanchez failed to clear his area and allowed Ben Mee to head goalwards, but the ball hit the crossbar. Sanchez's second attempt to make a clearance failed as Tarkowski collected the ball and attempted a volley only for his shot to fly wide,

Graham Potter's first change saw Mwepu leave the pitch and Lallana, an attacking midfielder, - was brought on as the visiting side looked for more incision going forward.

Brighton created another clear chance in the 57th minute when Pascall Grob ran down the right-wing, passed the ball to Steven Alzate, who then picked up Leandro Trossard, whose final shot was too far for Neal Maupay to connect with.

Mwepu's Brighton equalised in the 73rd minute through Maupay, who had been yellow-carded in the 26th minute. Yves Bissouma made his way through the midfield, picked up Jakub Moder on the right-wing and the Polish's low cross found Maupay on the other end to score.

It did not take long for Brighton to grab the second goal as Mac Allister scored in the 78th minute. Allister had spent just a little over one minute and 40 seconds on the pitch before his effort put his side on the steering wheel. Gross fired a diagonal low cross from the touchline and the Argentine found himself in some good space to find the back of the net for Brighton's second strike.

Late Burnley's resurgence did not bear any fruit as Mwepu's teammates fought hard to preserve the slim lead and go home with three points in their season-opening game.