'We're rock bottom again' - Lewis Dunk slams 'embarrassing' Brighton performance in thumping 7-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest and admits 'we let ourselves down'

The Seagulls endured a humiliating evening at the City Ground, with Dunk inadvertently turning the ball into his own net to hand Forest the opening goal. From there, the afternoon went from bad to worse for the Seagulls as the hosts, recorded their biggest-ever Premier League victory. Chris Wood led the charge with a clinical hat-trick, while Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams, and Jota Silva also found the net in a rampant display by Nuno Espírito Santo’s side.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Dunk delivered a scathing analysis of Brighton’s performance, admitting that the team had completely fallen apart.

"Everything [went wrong]. It was embarrassing," he stated. "We let ourselves down. We let the travelling fans down. We let the fans at home down. We have to take it on ourselves. It was us out there that performed like that. We have to look ourselves in the mirror and bounce back next week."
Dunk criticized the team's lack of effort and added: "I don't think we played with enough intensity or wanted it enough. It's not nice to say as a football player but we weren't good enough today. As a whole team, we didn't deserve [anything]. It could have been even more.

"We knew that we were coming here for a tough game. They are flying in the league and it is always a tough place to come. That tough? Probably not. And that is on ourselves. We have to work hard now and make sure we don't let ourselves or the fans down like that again.

"It is doing it on the training field. Working hard every day, wanting it every day. It starts on the training pitch. Three games ago we were on top of the world again weren't we after two wins in a row? Now we're rock bottom again."

For Dunk, the night was even more painful on a personal level. His own goal was the seventh of his Premier League career, putting him behind only Richard Dunne (10) for the most own goals in the competition’s history.

"This season has been a rollercoaster," he said. "The manager speaks about consistency all the time and that is a prime example of not showing any. We have to work at it. There's a lot of work to do to get to where we want to get to. There wasn't much to say [for Fabian Hurzeler]. We let ourselves down, let the fans down, let him down. There was nothing to say."

Forest’s emphatic win was their biggest league victory since a 7-0 demolition of Chelsea in April 1991. Meanwhile, Brighton suffered their heaviest league defeat in more than six decades—their worst since a crushing 9-0 loss to Middlesbrough on the opening day of the 1958-59 season. Additionally, Brighton have now scored more own goals (19) than any other club since the 2017-18 Premier League season.

With no time to dwell on the humiliation, Brighton must quickly regroup. They face Chelsea twice in the next two weeks - an FA Cup clash on February 8, followed by a Premier League meeting on February 14. Meanwhile, Forest will look to carry their momentum into the FA Cup when they take on Exeter City on February 11.