Morgan Gibbs-White came up with an injury-time winner for Wolves after Brighton’s Lewis Dunk scored and was then sent off in a 2-1 victory for the hosts at Molineux on Sunday.
At half-time the Seagulls had looked on course for a win which would have taken them to 40 points and made them mathematically safe from relegation, thanks to Dunk’s towering header on 13 minutes.
However, Brighton were left to play the final 37 minutes with 10 men after Dunk grabbed Fabio Silva’s shirt as he ran through on goal, and substitute Adama Traore fired Wolves level (76).
Gibbs-White had passed up a great chance to score his side’s second when he blasted over from 16 yards with the goal at his mercy but he made no mistake from a similar position with 90 minutes on the clock, earning Wolves a first-ever win over Brighton in the top flight.
Brighton’s situation got even worse at full-time when Neal Maupay was also shown a straight red for arguing with referee Jon Moss but they still have a 10-point cushion on third-bottom Fulham.
If the Cottagers lose to Burnley on Monday Graham Potter’s side will be assured of another season in the Premier League – but they will be kicking themselves for not doing it under their own steam at Wolves.
How Wolves turned it around…
With the hosts set for a mid-table finish, Nuno made five changes and fielded the youngest Wolves starting XI for a Premier League match in almost 12 years, but they started brightly, with Vitinha forcing Robert Sanchez to tip his shot around the corner early on.
However, the game changed on 13 minutes when Brighton scored with their first effort at goal, as Dunk towered above the Wolves defence to meet Pascal Gross’ corner and power his fifth Premier League strike of the season into the bottom corner.
Set-pieces proved to be a real problem for Wolves during that first half, with Dan Burn furious he wasn’t awarded a penalty when he was held back by Gibbs-White, before Dunk headed at goal from consecutive corners, out-jumping the mis-matched Ruben Neves.
Maupay came close to adding a second on 28 minutes, hooking a Danny Welbeck knock-down over the bar with his left-foot, but Wolves managed to not fall any further behind by the break.
