Lewis Dunk has credited the leadership of James Milner for Brighton going from relegation candidates to European hopefuls.

Brighton beat the Premier League's bottom club Wolves 3-0 on Saturday, with Jack Hinshelwood and Lewis Dunk scoring in the first five minutes to set them on their way to victory.

After 35 seconds, Hinshelwood's goal was Brighton's earliest in the Premier League, surpassing Alexis Mac Allister's 49-second effort against Aston Villa in November 2022.

Maxim De Cuyper, meanwhile, became just the third player to assist two goals in the opening five minutes of a Premier League match, after Andrey Arshavin (for Arsenal versus Newcastle United in 2011) and Islam Slimani (for Leicester City against Manchester City in 2016).

Yankuba Minteh added a third goal late on as Brighton stayed within two points of Bournemouth, who occupy sixth place in the table. Should Aston Villa finish fifth and win the Europa League, that position would bring Champions League football.

But as recently as February, Brighton were looking over their shoulders amid a six-match winless run, causing Fabian Hurzeler's future as head coach to be questioned.

Hurzeler signed a new three-year deal earlier this week, but Dunk believes that in addition to the German, veteran midfielder Milner deserves credit for their turnaround.

"I think if you look at that period, it was frustrating," Dunk reflected, speaking to BBC Sport. "Milner had a massive impact. 

"If you look at the team that the gaffer put out, we needed men to turn it around and Milner had a huge impact, understanding what the group needed. He was fundamental.

"The whole group stuck together, and now we're looking at Europe again. 

"It's a mental season. One minute we're looking at relegation, and now we're talking about Europe. It's great fun, football, isn't it?"

Milner broke the Premier League's all-time appearance record in February, though he was an unused substitute on Saturday and has been limited to just 719 minutes across 19 outings in the league this term, six of them starts.

Wolves, meanwhile, became just the second team to lose against every other side they have faced in a Premier League campaign, after Sheffield United in 2023-24.

They are also winless in 20 away Premier League matches (D5 L15), the first time they have gone 20+ such games without a win in any division since April 2003 to August 2004 (23 games), a spell which also saw them relegated from the top flight.

Rob Edwards has been heavily criticised by the club's supporters in recent days, culminating in his assertion that he was not to blame for their lowly position on Friday.

And he slammed his players in a tetchy post-match press conference, saying: "Look, some of them have got to go. We're bottom of the league and it's embarrassing.

"They've not been good enough. Have I been clear enough on that? We know there's going to be a lot of change."

Wolves have collected just 16 points from 25 games under Edwards, the second-fewest in the league since he took charge in November (Burnley have 10).

They would be 10 points adrift of the team with the 17th-best record during that time (Crystal Palace).