Lovely performance from almost everyone today, really great to see the setup starting to reap rewards. You can see that it's starting to bring out the best of what we have available in the squad - except probably in the spot to Fabinho's right, as we saw it awfully exposed for the goal and other occasions the first twenty minutes.
Aside from the good luck with their offside when Fab and Hendo just ball watched, we largely staved off their threat by keeping possession better than we've managed in a while - especially helped when Thiago Jones and Diaz put on a ten minute masterclass before our second in how to ramp up pressure by holding the ball, but then aggressively exploiting gaps when they're available. Soucek looked like he'd seen a ghost when he had to defend Diaz dribbling, and conceded one of the corners before the goal. Jones played so well (aside from his tired last five mins) that several times in the first half we'd progressed the ball so high that Fabinho could be played to facing goal on the corner of their box.
Really nice finish from Gakpo, who strikes a ball so cleanly - even managed a clean hit with no timeon the one that bounced through to him early on. Delighted for Joel too, who BT gave man of the match. He handled the new role to perfection, scored a bullet header after perplexing Antionio, and showcased some of the slalomy skills too. Great three points, especially so with Brighton losing
