Florian Wirtz’s shot deflected in off Pascal Gross for a 17th-minute own goal and less than five minutes later Alexander Isak doubled the lead as the Seagulls’ miserly defence was breached after more than nine hours without conceding.

“Very happy for today, very happy overall for this fourth (league) win,” said Iraola.

“I think we faced a very good opposition and I think it was key how we started today. We needed a strong start, be aggressive, recover balls, win our duels, be dangerous in transitions.

“I think we’ve done that and it has been a different game from the last ones, where we’ve conceded first.

“After, you need the comeback. Today we’ve started better and the game has gone differently.”

Isak made it six goals in seven Premier League appearances and is starting to show why the club broke the British transfer record to bring him to the club last summer.

“If we can put him in those positions, we can provide him good crosses, good situations, he will score the goals,” Iraola added.

“I think it’s a matter of, in this case, Bradley (Barcola) winning the duel, going one v one, being faster than the opposition and finding good spots.”

Wirtz was later forced off with an injury but Iraola is hopeful it will not be a significant issue.

“Unfortunately, he had to leave the pitch with a small twist of the ankle,” he added.

“It doesn’t look very big but we are playing every three days so we need to see where he is.”

Brighton had 64 per cent possession and 17 shots and although Yasin Ayari hit a post, only one effort was on target.

Nevertheless, boss Fabian Hurzeler claimed his side deserved more.

“I think everyone in the stadium saw that there was one team who really tried to create and try to win this game and therefore I have to praise my players,” he said.

“There was a missed opportunity for us. Before they scored, we had one, two big chances and I think it was just the difference that they scored, we didn’t score.

“They kept a clean sheet because they defended well. They blocked a lot of shots. They really defended the box well. We didn’t have that efficiency.

“We couldn’t keep the clean sheet because we made easy mistakes, we lost some important personal duels.

“But overall I saw a team with a lot of good things to take away. I saw a team that really had the belief in our approach.

“That stuck to the match plan, that always kept going, and that is very frustrating because we all have the feeling that there is a missed opportunity here today.”