'Small problem': Roberto De Zerbi pinpoints reason behind 'two dropped points' for Brighton - and it wasn't Joao Palhinha's red card escape

Albion dominated the first half and had a deserved lead at the break thanks to Evan Ferguson’s fine finish.

However, they couldn’t add to their lead and were punished when Joao Palhinha scored a stunning second-half equaliser.

"I think we played a good game,” De Zerbi said, post-match.

"[We played] very well first half. In the second half, we suffered for five, six, seven minutes.

"Carlos Baleba wasn't in a good moment. He had a small problem. We conceded a goal in that moment. I think we deserved to win.”

The Italian said the Seagulls ‘played very well’ – ‘especially in the first-half’ – and ‘dominated the game’.

He added: “We could score more goals. We are really disappointed and frustrated for the result. We lost two points. We were really unlucky and sad for it.

“You have to analyse the game. There was one team on the pitch and we deserved to win.

"If you analyse the two games in a row in a few days, we are adapting and working.

"But if we analyse the game, there was only one team for 85 minutes on the pitch. That was Brighton. In terms of the quality of the game, I am really happy for the performances.”

De Zerbi was asked about an incident involving Palhinha, who was fortunate not to see red for an elbow on Pascal Gross. This came before the Portuguese midfielder levelled the scoring.

“I would like to speak about football,” De Zerbi said. “There's other things on the pitch I don't like speaking about.”