Mats Wieffer was as surprised as anyone after his brace helped Brighton stay in the hunt for European football with a 2-0 win over Championship-bound Burnley at Turf Moor. 

Wieffer opened the scoring in the 43rd minute with a fine finish past Martin Dubravka to cap a dominant first half from Fabian Hurzeler's side on Saturday. 

Burnley, who saw Jaidon Anthony's goal ruled out for offside early on, then had another strike chalked off for the same reason when Bashir Humphreys smashed home. 

However, Brighton made sure of the win a minute from time through Wieffer again, with the Dutchman's side-footed finish moving the Seagulls up to ninth in the Premier League. 

On what was his 47th top-flight appearance, Wieffer netted his second and third goals in the competition, with his previous coming against West Ham in December 2024.

But, more importantly for Brighton, they have now won five of their last six Premier League games (L1), having gone winless in their previous six (D3 L3), with Wieffer quick to put his personal achievements to the side to focus on the bigger picture. 

"I'm really happy, of course. A brace. I've never scored a brace in my life, to do it now and also the 2-0 win, that's the most important bit," Wieffer said.

"It was a tough afternoon. We were not at our best, but at this stage of the season, points are the most important.

"We are on a good run, we feel good, we play well. In the end, if you win 2-0, nothing to complain about.

"I'm really happy, that's the only thing I can say. We focus a lot on getting the full-backs and loads of people in the box. I joined the attack and Pascal [Gross] saw me.

"The second one, I just followed the ball, and it dropped onto my foot. It went into the net, and I'm really happy."

Defeat edges Burnley closer to an immediate return to the second tier, with the Clarets now 12 points adrift of safety.

The Clarets have won just one of their last 23 Premier League games (D7 L15) and are winless in their last 12 at Turf Moor (D4 L8). Only between February and October 2021 have they endured a longer winless run on home soil in their league history (14).

Scott Parker's side finished with an expected goals (xG) total of 0.9 from their 10 shots compared to Brighton's tally of 1.91 from their 13 attempts. 

Burnley have now failed to score in 12 Premier League games this season, with only Wolves (16) and Forest (14) failing to score in more this term, though Parker felt the calls for their two offside goals went against them. 

"I think that's how you see football really now. There's a perfection to the game. People will always fall back and reference well it's the correct decision," Parker said.  

"If that's what it is, that's what it is. I get we're in a world where everyone wants perfection in every walk of life, and football is certainly turning out that way.

"But from my side when I look back on it, from a still, it doesn't actually look like offside. Now, of course, I get that you can reference that obviously it was from the angle. But that's ultimately the way it is. We're ultimately falling back on technology, or AI, or some gadget that will prove a human being wrong in that sense.

"That's the way it is. That's disappointing. That's the way it's going. I see a team fully committed. We can be critical of this team in certain moments because of the lack of quality or lack of clinical moments. But I didn't see a team you can be critical of in terms of effort. "