Preview: Lallana, Welbeck, Gilmour and Colwill miss Fulham

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A look-ahead to Saturday's Amex clash against Fulham.

Bruce Talbot

2023-02-17T14:00:00Z

Adam Lallana is facing a spell on the sidelines because of injury.

It’s sixth v seventh at the Amex on Saturday as Albion entertain Fulham in a sold-out game at the Amex, kick off 3pm.

Team news

Adam Lallana, Danny Welbeck, Billy Gilmour and Levi Colwill are all sidelined but Roberto De Zerbi said everyone else is available.

View from the head coach

"Fulham are a good team, who play a good quality of football. But I think we are able to win the game. We have to be ready to play a great game because we would like to break away from them in the table.

"I don't know today if we are ready or not to play in Europe but we are ready to fight to arrive in Europe. I'm not showing arrogance because I believe in my players. I see them every day and know their level of quality. In the last period of games we have played fantastic football, creating a lot of chances and defending well."

Form Guide

Fulham beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Saturday, their tenth win of the season – only four clubs in the league have won more matches. Marco Silva’s side have won four matches on the road and have the seventh best away record in the league.

Albion will be aiming for three successive home wins in the league for the first time since November 2019. It is nearly eight years (September 2015) since we won three in a row at the Amex without conceding a goal. We are unbeaten in our last nine home games against promoted sides, but in five previous Premier League meetings against Fulham we have yet to win (D3, L2). Fulham won 2-1 when the sides met in August with Alexis Mac Allister getting Albion's goal.

Player to watch

Alexsandr Mitrovic has scored 11 Premier League goals this season.

With 11 league goals in 19 games, Serbia striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has played a big part in helping Fulham to sustain their challenge for Europe. The 28-year-old, who scored twice at the World Cup late last year, has netted 35 top-flight goals and contributed 11 assists. His league goals this season include five away from home.

Stats and facts

Following their 2-1 win at Craven Cottage in August, Fulham are looking to complete their first league double over Brighton since the 1992-93 third tier campaign.
Brighton have won their last two Premier League home games, beating Liverpool 3-0 and Bournemouth 1-0. They last won three in a row at home in November 2019, while they last won three in a row at home without conceding in September 2015 in the Championship.
Fulham have won 10 Premier League games this season, with only Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham winning more. It's their most wins in a top-flight campaign since 2012-13 (11) and double the amount they won in their last Premier League season in 2020-21 (5).
Including penalties, no side has scored more goals from set piece situations in the Premier League this season than Fulham (15), while Brighton have conceded a league-high share 46.4% of their goals from set-pieces (13/28).
Albion are averaging 14.1 shots per game in the Premier League this season, and have a shot conversion rate of 13.2%, both their highest averages in any of their six Premier League campaigns. They've also netted 39 goals so far this term, only netting more in 2020-21 (40) and 2021-22 (42).
Solly March has scored five goals in his last seven Premier League games, more than he had in his first 156 appearances in the competition (4). He's netting once every 263 minutes on average under Roberto De Zerbi, compared to once every 2343 minutes under Chris Hughton/Graham Potter.
Against no side has Fulham's Aleksandar Mitrovic scored more Premier League goals than he has against Brighton, netting four times in five appearances against the Seagulls.