Fulham vs Brighton: Chukwueze puts behind AFCON penalty heartbreak, comes from bench to kickstart comeback for Cottagers

The manager welcomed back the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations bronze medalists, Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey and Samuel Chukwueze to the team after their impressive performance at the tournament.

The Super Eagles stars had a remarkable outing at the 2025 AFCON competition, leading Nigeria to a third-place finish after defeating Egypt.

Following their return to Fulham, they played a role in their 2-1 victory over Brighton, with the result taking them into seventh place.

Fulham manager Marco Silva made two changes to the side that suffered a 1-0 defeat by Leeds last week. Iwobi started on his return from Afcon, while Bassey and Chukwueze were named as substitutes.

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler made three changes from the 1-1 draw against Bournemouth. Carlos Baleba, Olivier Boscagli and Yasin Ayari start in place of Brajan Gruda, Jack Hinshelwood and Joel Veltman.

The game started with a good spell from the host, but it was Brighton who took the lead with their first effort on goal before half-time.

Yasin Ayari ran past two Fulham players to get to the corner of the penalty area and his strike is too fierce for Bernd Leno, who got hands to the ball, but could not keep it out.

In the second half, Silva brought in Chukwueze to help boost the attack and it paid off, with the Nigerian equalising for the host.

In the 90th minute of the game, Harry Wilson completed the comeback to give Fulham the victory and claim all three points.