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 went on. “I’m responsible for that.” I am the president of this football club, and what I did was inadequate. That is not how you do things, and I have to learn from it and be a role model to the next boys coming through.”
Forest took the lead on Trentside thanks to Anthony Elanga’s header, but Brighton answered with a well-taken score from Evan Ferguson. Joao Pedro then gave Brighton the lead just before halftime, before adding his second on 58 minutes to make it 3-1.
Following Dunk’s dismissal, Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White equalized from the spot, but it was too little, too late.
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.
