Brighton 3-3 Brentford: Late Alexis Mac Allister penalty rescues a point for the Seagulls after a six-goal thriller at the Amex Stadium... after Ivan Toney, Pontus Jansson and Ethan Pinnock struck for the visiting Bees

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Brighton’s poker-playing, big-betting, data-driven owner Tony Bloom tries his best to predict the future – be it the cards in your hand, which horse will win, which team will lose, whatever.

Yet not even Bloom could have foreseen this bonkers, you score, we score, blink-and-you’ll-miss-something encounter at the Amex Stadium. Nor could Brentford's owner Matthew Benham, another discipline of analytics and possibilities and probabilities.

This battle between the Premier League’s ‘Moneyballers’ was enthralling to the very end, when Alexis Mac Allister’s 90th-minute VAR-awarded penalty ensured each of these European chasers took a point for their efforts.

Bloom and Benham will study what this means for their respective clubs’ chances of qualifying for Europe. Yet you do not need to be a mathematician to work out Brighton and Brentford remain very much in the mix, sitting sixth and seventh respectively, ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea.

‘We dream,’ said Brentford boss Thomas Frank. ‘And we dream big. When you lead three times, you want more (than a point), especially when you’re leading in the 89th minute. But it was two teams that went for it. I love that.’

Alexis Mac Allister stepped up and scored a late penalty to earn Brighton a point at the Amex

The in-form World Cup winner wheeled away in celebration after scoring the late spot-kick

Brentford had taken the lead on three separate occasions in the Premier League encounter

The first half was a whirlwind. Brentford led. Brighton equalised. Brentford led again. Brighton equalised again. All within 28 minutes as any sense of defensive duty deserted the teams.

Brentford took the lead a third time in the second half, Ethan Pinnock scoring from a set-piece.

Brighton dominated the statistics with 33 shots – the highest total of any Premier League side in a game this season – and 73 per cent possession. Yet it was a late handball by Aaron Hickey which gifted Mac Allister the chance to secure a point from the penalty spot.

Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi said: ‘There was only one team on the pitch, I think. We conceded three goals in an incredible way. If we concede goals like this, we cannot achieve our target.’

And that target is Europe? ‘Yes, I think so,’ De Zerbi added.

Ethan Pinnock thought he'd scored the winning goal before Mac Allister's last-gap penalty

Danny Welbeck (L) and Kaoru Mitoma (R) were both on the scoresheet for the south coast side

In the 21st minute, Steele’s long pass in behind Brentford’s defence found Mitoma. Hickey could not catch the Japanese sensation, who spied David Raya off his line and lobbed him for 1-1.

While the home supporters were still celebrating their equaliser, Brentford scored. From a Brighton throw-in, Jansson won the header, Bryan Mbeumo flicked the ball forward, and Ivan Toney controlled nicely before scoring beyond Steele for 2-1 after 22 minutes.

In the 28th minute, it was 2-2. March, the man who missed out on an England call-up last month, crossed to the back post and Danny Welbeck’s downward header beat Raya. It silenced the Brentford supporters who had been singing: ‘You’re just a s*** Ivan Toney.'

In the 49th minute, Brentford scored again. Bloom, an obsessive studier of statistics, will have known that the visitors are the best in the Premier League at scoring from set-pieces. He will have known, too, that Brighton aren’t the greatest at defending them.

How predictable this was, then, as Mbeumo stood over his wide free-kick. He crossed and Pinnock volleyed in from three yards for 3-2.

After 90 minutes of chaos, it was not only the players who needed a lie down. The supporters were likewise knackered, but they can still live in hope of an unexpected European adventure.

Brentford then took the lead after 10 minutes and how simple it was, too. A cross from Matthias Jensen and a header from Pontus Jansson, who had dashed in front of Lewis Dunk for 1-0.

In the 12th minute, there was a fascinating yet rare sight in football – an indirect free-kick for a back pass. Brighton’s Pervis Estupinan had tapped the ball to Jason Steele, who inexplicably picked it up. A small TV monitor felt De Zerbi’s fury as he watched the replay.

With Brighton bodies smothering the line, Jensen blasted the ball goalward from 12 yards. It bounced off Solly March and then Kaoru Mitoma before finally being cleared.

Striker Ivan Toney scored his 17th Premier League of the campaign to restore the visitors' lead

Japanese international Mitoma has now registered six goals and three assists so far this season

In the 62nd minute, March was through on goal. He did all he could, aiming for the bottom-right corner on an angle, but Raya saved brilliantly.

Brighton screamed for a spot-kick in the 86th minute after Deniz Undav’s attempt struck the outstretched arm of Hickey. Nothing was given in real time by referee Michael Oliver. VAR Stuart Attwell sent his colleague to his monitor and there, he awarded the handball.

Mac Allister picked up the ball and stood over the penalty spot. We were now in the 90th minute. The pressure was on the Argentinian. But like the World Cup winner he is, Mac Allister coolly sent Raya the wrong way, scoring to the right-hand side.

Brighton wanted another spot-kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time, for another handball by Hickey after a March cross. We’ve seen them given, but Oliver and Attwell weren’t feeling generous enough to award another penalty.