PREVIEW: ALBION V SOUTHAMPTON

27 October 2017

Albion take on Southampton at the Amex on Sunday.

Brighton & Hove Albion welcome Southampton to the Amex on Saturday afternoon for their first meeting in the top flight of English football since 1983, with the game being shown live on Sky Sports, kick-off 1.30pm.

After last week’s morale-boosting 3-0 victory over West Ham United at the London Stadium, Chris Hughton’s team return to the south coast and welcome one of their nearest neighbours.

With both sides positioned around the middle of the Premier League table - Southampton 10th and Albion 12th - the match is nicely poised for an entertaining game against Mauricio Pellegrino’s team.

The Seagulls won the only meeting between the teams at the Amex in 2012, when a brace from Matt Sparrow and Jake Forster-Caskey’s first Albion goal led them to a 3-0 victory over the Saints.

TEAM NEWS: Other than Steve Sidwell's back injury, Hughton has a fully-fit squad to choose from for this Sunday's game, with Beram Kayal and Sam Baldock both pushing for returns to the side.

For Southampton, full-back Jeremy Pied continues to work his way back to full fitness from a groin injury, while Mario Lemina is ruled out with an ankle injury.

FORM:

ALBION: The Seagulls head into Sunday’s clash after picking up their first away victory in the Premier League, as Glenn Murray also claimed his first goals of the season.

Jose Izquierdo’s first Albion goal added to Murray’s brace, as Hughton’s team showed their defensive strength to hold on for a third clean sheet of the campaign.

  It was almost back-to-back victories, but Wayne Rooney’s 90th-minute penalty at the Amex denied Albion victory, after Anthony Knockaert had opened the scoring.  

A 2-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium came beforehand, which followed a hard-fought 1-0 triumph against Newcastle United, thanks to Tomer Hemed’s second-half strike.   

SOUTHAMPTON: The Saints arrive at the Amex on the back of two unbeaten games, as they overcame West Bromwich Albion and drew with Newcastle United at St Mary’s.

Sofiane Boufal’s 85th-minute solo effort, which saw the midfielder drive towards goal from his own half, was enough to snatch all three points last time out.

Consecutive defeats to Stoke City and Manchester United came at the end of September, after Pellegrino’s team claimed their first away win of the season - a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace.

Watford claimed a 2-0 victory at St Mary’s at the start of September, which came after a goalless draw against another newly-promoted side, Huddersfield Town.

LAST TIME OUT: ALBION

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MATCH MONTAGE: WEST HAM 0 ALBION 3

Montage from Albion's amazing performance at the London Stadium.

WEST HAM UNITED 0

ALBION 3
Murray 10, 75
Izquierdo 45+2 

Albion line-up: Ryan; Bruno, Duffy, Dunk, Bong; Knockaert (Schelotto 84), Stephens, Propper, Izquierdo (March 70); Gross (Brown 76); Murray.

Subs not used: Krul (GK), Goldson, Suttner, Molumby.

LAST TIME OUT: SOUTHAMPTON

SOUTHAMPTON 1
Boufal 85

WEST BROMWICH ALBION 0   

Southampton line-up: Forster; Cedric, Van Dijk, Yoshida, Bertrand; Lemina, Davis, Romeu (Redmond 69), Tadic (Boufal 81); Gabbiadini, Long (Austin 81).  

Subs not used: McCarthy (GK), McQueen, Hoedt, Ward-Prowse.

PLAYER TO WATCH: Dusan Tadic  

The creative midfielder made an impressive start to his Saints career after signing from FC Twente in 2014, as he claimed 21 Premier League assists in his first two seasons at the club.

Tadic also found the back of the net on 14 occasions in that time, as he continued to show his attacking capability in the forward areas for the south coast club.

The Serbia international has been a regular in Southampton’s team under Ronald Koeman, Claude Puel and current manager Pellegrino, and hit his first goal of the campaign against West Ham.

The 28-year-old has scored 12 goals in 45 appearances for Serbia and helped his nation qualify for next summer’s World Cup in Russia, scoring four goals and claiming seven assists in ten games.

Match Reports

REPORT: ALBION 1 SOUTHAMPTON 1

29 October 2017

Glenn Murray celebrates scoring the equaliser.

Albion hit back to draw South Coast derby 1-1
Glenn Murray scores his third goal in two games
Steven Davis put Southampton ahead early on
Seagulls climb to 11^th in Premier League table

Brighton & Hove Albion are unbeaten in three in the Premier League but had to settle for a point for the second successive game at the Amex.

Behind to Steven Davis’s early close-range header, the Seagulls levelled six minutes after the break when Glenn Murray scored his third goal in two games.

The Seagulls looked the side more likely to go on and win it with Murray, Shane Duffy and Anthony Knockaert all going close but it stayed 1-1.

Skipper Bruno led out the side on his 200^th appearance for the club but Albion made a slow start and were behind for the first time at home since the opening day.

With seven minutes on the clock, Dale Stephens brought down Sofiane Boufal to the left of goal 22 yards out. James Ward-Prowse bent the free kick over the defensive wall, onto the corner of post and bar, and when it bounced back Davis reacted first to nod home – the midfielder’s first headed goal in the top flight since 2006.

The visitors have a better away record in the league in 2017 and looked strong and organised in the opening stages.

Although Albion enjoyed plenty of possession Southampton were hard to break down. The Seagulls forced Fraser Forster into his first save in the 19^th minute when he made a comfortable stop from Davy Propper’s header after the Dutchman was found by Knockaert from a free kick.

The Frenchman was warming to the task and twice in the space of a minute, as Albion built some sustained pressure, he nearly created an equaliser.

First, a driven cross from the line just eluded Murray before his left-wing centre picked out Shane Duffy, but the defender headed narrowly over from close range under pressure from Virgil van Dijk.

Albion carried on where they had left off after the break and within six minutes of the re-start they were level. Pascal Gross picked out Murray at the far post, who got above his marker to guide a header into the top corner, despite Forster’s scrambling efforts to keep it out. It was Gross’s fifth assist in ten Premier League games – and the German has also scored twice.

Murray then got across van Dijk to meet Knockaert’s cross but the defender did enough to prevent the striker from getting his shot on target.

The Seagulls were on top although they had a warning at the other end in the 70^th minute when Manolo Gabbiadini's shot took a deflection off Lewis Dunk which took it over Mathew Ryan’s bar.

Albion were soon back on the offensive though and a great move ended with Duffy firing over after Knockaert’s pass found him in space 15 yards out. Knockaert then drove at the heart of the Saints’ defence but he failed to keep his shot down.

Izzy Brown and Solly March came on in the closing stages as Albion looked for a way through but a rugged Southampton defence kept them at bay.

Albion: Mathew Ryan; Bruno, Lewis Dunk, Shane Duffy, Gaetan Bong; Anthony Knockaert, Dale Stephens, Davy Propper, Jose Izquierdo (sub: Solly March 87); Pascal Gross (sub: Izzy Brown 83); Glenn Murray.

Unused subs: Tim Krul, Tomer Hemed, Connor Goldson, Ezequiel Schelotto, Markus Suttner.

Booked: Murray, Bong

Southampton: Fraser Forster; Cedric, Virgil van Dijk, Wesley Hoedt, Ryan Bertrand, Oriol Romeu, Steven Davis, James Ward-Prowse (sub: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg 84), Duscan Tadic (sub: Shane Long 84), Sofiane Boufal (sub: Nathan Redmond 72), Manolo Gabbiadini.

Unused subs: Alex McCarthy, Maya Joshida, Jack Stephens, Nathan Redmond, Sam McQueen.

Booked: Hoedt

Referee: Neil Swarbrick

Attendance: 30,564 (3,023 Southampton)

1901 CLUB LOTTERY

1ST PRIZE £1000 093825
2ND PRIZE        091472
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4TH PRIZE        092772
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ALBION HAT TRICK

1ST £500 1970
2ND £50 2166
3RD £25 4828

1ST GOAL TIME 7 MINS

Match Reports

Ticket News

AMEX SET FOR SEVENTH CONSECUTIVE SELL-OUT

27 October 2017

Albion are set for their seventh consecutive sell-out at the Amex.

Brighton & Hove Albion’s match against Southampton will be the club’s seventh consecutive sell-out of home and away areas, an unprecedented event according to the club’s historian, Tim Carder.

The Amex is set to be packed to the rafters for Sunday’s south coast derby, with the same feat achieved in the matches against Everton, Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion, and Manchester City this season, following the two games against Bristol City and Wigan Athletic at the tail end of the last EFL Championship campaign.

Albion chief executive Paul Barber said, “This is a magnificent achievement and further demonstrates the fantastic support we receive from our fans week-in week-out. It also underlines the desire of visiting supporters to attend matches at the Amex, in some cases for the first time ever.

“This shows the great progress that the club is continuing to make, and tremendous credit goes to our hardcore supporters who have stuck by us through the difficult times, as well as the new supporters we’ve gained since arriving at the Amex.

"On behalf of everyone at the club, including the chairman and manager, I would like to thank all our fans for their tremendous backing.”

Brighton & Hove Albion

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