Roberto De Zerbi, Brighton Albion's manager acknowledges that it was a "mistake" to leave Joel Veltman on the field after he sustained an injury during their decisive victory over Wolves.
Pascal Gross, Danny Welbeck, and Deniz Undav each scored twice as the Albion thrashed the hapless visitors 6-0 on Saturday at the Amex to record their biggest-ever top-flight victory.
The Seagulls' European charge was rekindled as a result, as they now only trail seventh-placed Liverpool by one point, even though they still have a game in hand and are in prime position to clinch the only Europa Conference League slot.
The only negative aspect of the game was the second-half substitution of defender Veltman. The 31-year-old was noticeably unhappy as he left the field and instead of joining the substitutes, he headed straight for the tunnel.
The Dutchman has recently experienced hamstring problems, and with Tariq Lamptey, a fellow right back, out injured, the Sussex team is severely lacking in that position ahead of Thursday's home match against Manchester United.
After the match, De Zerbi told Sussex Live: "This is my mistake because I should have substituted him before. I hope it will be a small problem. It's important for us, especially in this moment, because we are playing without Lamptey and I would like to have one chance more to decide the first XI.
"With or without Joel changes a lot of things because only [Pascal] Gross can play as a right-back. We are working to make other solutions in case we lose some more players because we play with [Billy] Gilmour, Gross at right-back or in midfield."
The matchups keep coming thick and fast, and after the match against the Red Devils, De Zerbi's men play relegation-threatened Everton at the Amex on May 8.
Brighton Albion condemns Wolves as the reignite Europe qualification Ambitions
By defeating the hopeless Wolves, Brighton won their biggest-ever top-flight match, reigniting their bid for a spot in Europe for the next season.
The Seagulls are still in eighth position in the Premier League but are now only two points behind fifth-placed Tottenham after playing two more games than Roberto de Zerbi's team and just a point behind Liverpool in seventh.
After Julio Enciso's incisive run and ball, Deniz Undav scored his first Premier League goal, then Pascal Gross made it 2-0 with an easy finish.
Midway through the first half, Gross doubled his own tally in spectacular fashion. He handled Enciso's square pass before curving a shot past Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa and into the corner.
Before halftime, Danny Welbeck's close-range header from Pervis Estupinan's cross made it 4-0, and he added a second goal early in the second half after intercepting Nathan Collins' errant pass.
Undav added the last goal with yet another outstanding performance, dispossessing Matheus Nunes on the edge of the box and chipping Sa with a superbly weighted shot.
The style of Wolves' fall on the south coast will scare manager Julen Lopetegui, even though his team is still eight points clear of the relegation zone.
With the decisive victory, Brighton can look back on a trying week that saw them lose on penalties to Manchester United in their FA Cup semifinal on Sunday and lose to struggling Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Wednesday.
After his team's lackluster performance at the City Ground, manager De Zerbi made five substitutions, starting Undav and Billy Gilmour instead of crucial players Kaoru Mitoma, Alexis Mac Allister, and Moises Caicedo.
To suggest that the Italian was a wise choice would be an understatement. Wolves was easily split open by Brighton, who were able to make the visitors commit errors and have multiple chances to increase their lead before halftime.
Sa denied Welbeck in a one-on-one situation before the Seagulls striker smashed the ball over the crossbar after the Portuguese goalkeeper made a terrible clearance.
Sa made up for that oversight by stopping Enciso's curling effort from the corner of the area, and Brighton continued their relentless pursuit of the Wolves goal with Solly March's tight miss of the crossbar.
In the second half, Wolves defenders stopped shots from Estupinan and Undav, and Gilmour's shot hit the foot of the post, preventing him from scoring his first goal of the year.
The sole negative from Brighton's perspective was Joel Veltman's injury in the second half, which caused him to leave the field in tears with head physio Adam Brett.
Brighton is in a good position to win continental football for the first time in the club's nearly 12-decade history because they have games in hand over fellow European contenders Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Spurs.
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