Albion return to the Amex on Saturday for their first Premier League home match since the beginning of the month, as they take on Wolves.
While we head into the game after a defeat to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, our recent form is still strong. Only four teams have taken more points in the last eight Premier League games, with Roberto De Zerbi’s men taking 14 points during that time.
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The Italian enjoyed his first away win as Albion boss against this Saturday’s opponents, when Pascal Gross netted a late winner in a 3-2 victory at Molineux. Julen Lopetegui was unveiled as Wolves’ new boss that day and has guided them out of the relegation zone and they are now eight points clear of the bottom three.
His target will be to move his team up to 40 points this weekend at The Amex, where home supporters have seen their team go unbeaten in their last three matches, taking seven points.
A victory this weekend will see Albion stay in eighth spot, but they will close the points gap between themselves and Liverpool to a point. A win for Wolves on the other hand could see them move above Crystal Palace and Fulham into 11th.
Team news
Roberto De Zerbi confirmed Joel Veltman will play against Wolves on Saturday, and he gave an update on Evan Ferguson and Adam Lallana.
“Veltman can play and Ferguson I don’t know at the moment,” the head coach said. “I don’t want to take a risk with him for two reasons: we have another seven games after tomorrow and because he is a very young player. I don’t want to joke with the players, especially if they’re very young.
“Adam Lallana is not so close, we need time with him and I don’t know if he can play before the end of the season. To play without Lallana for Brighton is a problem, he is unique.”
Our last meeting
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Adam Lallana gave Albion an early lead, only for Goncalo Guedes to cancel out his effort two minutes later. Wolves’ tails were up and they went 2-1 ahead from the penalty spot thanks to Ruben Neves, but Kaoru Mitoma’s first Albion goal brought the score level with Nelson Semedo then sent off just before half-time for bringing down the Japan international when he was through on goal. Pascal Gross would prove to be Albion’s hero, smashing home from close range to snatch it late on.
Match stats
Brighton are looking to complete their first league double over Wolves since 2016-17, following their 3-2 win at Molineux in November.
Wolves won this exact fixture 1-0 last season but have never won consecutive away league games against Brighton.
Brighton have scored at least three goals in five different Premier League home games this season, as many times as they'd managed in the previous two campaigns combined. Indeed, only Arsenal and Manchester City have scored 3+ goals in more different home games this season.
Wolves haven't kept a clean sheet in any of their last 13 Premier League away games, since a goalless draw at Bournemouth in August. Wolves are winless in their last five on the road (D2 L3), having won two of their first four under Julen Lopetegui (D1 L1).
Brighton and Hove Albion have lost two of their last three Premier League matches (W1), as many as in their previous 13 combined (W7 D4). Their 3-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest was their heaviest in a league game when scoring first since May 2019, a 4-1 loss to Manchester City.
| Pos | Team | Pld | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
5
|
LIV
|
38 | +28 | 67 |
|
6
|
Albion
|
38 | +19 | 62 |
|
7
|
AVL
|
38 | +5 | 61 |
Wolves have won three of their last four Premier League games (L1), not conceding a goal in any of these victories. It's as many clean sheets as they'd managed in their previous 19 Premier League matches beforehand.
This will be Wolves manager Julen Lopetegui's 200th top-flight match in charge across spells in Portugal, Spain, and England (W110 D52 L37). He drew his 50th, won his 100th, and lost his 150th such matches.
Daniel Podence is the only Wolves player to score more than once away from home in the Premier League this season, netting 33% of their goals on the road so far (4/12).
Wolves have benefitted from three own goals in the Premier League this season, with all of these coming since February. No Wolves player has scored more than twice in the league in that time.
Brighton’s Facundo Buonanotte scored on his first Premier League start against Nottingham Forest in midweek, aged just 18 years and 124 days. Should he start and score in this game, he would be the youngest player in Premier League history to score in his first two starts, breaking the record set by Ritchie Humphreys in 1996 (18y 264d).
Match officials
Referee: David Coote.
Assistants: Simon Bennett, Timothy Wood.
Fourth official: Thomas Bramall.
VAR: Tony Harrington.