Lewis Dunk has stated that he apologized to Anthony Taylor immediately following Brighton’s 3-2 triumph against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
Dunk, 32, was issued the Premier League’s first red card for dissent in 12 years during the Seagulls’ victory at The City Ground. The England international was issued a yellow card in the 73rd minute before receiving a straight red 12 seconds later.
Dunk will now serve a two-match domestic ban as a result of his actions, which means he will miss Brighton’s trip to Chelsea and home game against Brentford. Dunk’s next appearance will be against Burnley at home on December 9, the Seagulls’ third in six days.
It’s unclear what Dunk said to Taylor, but the Brighton defender did apologize to the referee after the game. “I spoke to Anthony straight after the game and apologised,” he stated. “We had a good conversation about it.”
I let the boys down,” he added. “That is on me. I am a leader of this football club and it’s not good enough what I did. I have got to learn from that myself and be the role model to the other boys coming through, and that is not how you do it.”
Forest raced into the lead on Trentside thanks to Anthony Elanga’s header, before Brighton responded to level through Evan Ferguson’s well-taken strike. Joao Pedro then gave Brighton the lead just before half-time, before the Brazilian added his second on 58 minutes to put the Seagulls 3-1 up.
Following Dunk’s red card, Morgan Gibbs-White pulled one back from the spot for Forest, but it was too little too late for the home side. It was a vital win for the Seagulls, who moved up to eight with their first Premier League win since September.
Brighton followed it up by defeating AEK Athens in the Europa League to go to the knockout stage of the competition. Pedro scored the game-winning goal for the Seagulls in Greece, and while De Zerbi wasn’t thrilled with his team’s effort, he was satisfied with the outcome.
“We didn’t play well,” the Italian said. AEK Athens outperformed us. But I believe it was the first time in my Brighton career that we won a game in this manner. We lost the first game at the Amex, but we played better and I believe we deserved more.
Today we didn’t play in our way. But we played with great character, great soul, great passion. We had the first chance to score with Evan Ferguson in the first half. We suffered too much, we suffered a lot. We knew before the game AEK are a very good team. They have a great coach. I know him very well. I knew the level before the level of difficulty of the game. I was not surprised.”
Dunk’s strong form for Brighton has earned him a recall to the England squad ahead of the European Championships next summer. “This year has been good for me,” Dunk continued. “It comes down to hard work, giving your all, and believing in yourself.”
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