Match Previews

Southampton team news: Veltman in contention for return

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Albion take on Saints as we push for European football.

By Charlie Hanson • 20 May 2023

By Paul Hazlewood
Joel Veltman is back in contention for Sunday's game against Southampton at the Amex.

Albion play their penultimate home game of this Premier League season as they welcome Southampton to The Amex this Sunday, kick-off 2pm.

Despite a 4-1 defeat to Newcastle on Thursday, Albion’s European hopes are still very much in their own hands.

Two wins from our final three games would see us secure sixth place finish and Europa League football.

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Live League Table Table
Pos Team Pld GD Pts
5
Liverpool
Liverpool LIV
38 +28 67
6
Brighton and Hove Albion
Albion Albion
38 +19 62
7
Aston Villa
Aston Villa AVL
38 +5 61

Roberto De Zerbi’s men will look for the first of those victories against Saints, who were the first club to have their relegation confirmed last weekend.

With just a point taken in their last eight games, Ruben Selles’s side are rooted to the bottom of the table with 24 points from 36 games.

Supporters are remind that there will also be a post-match lap of appreciation following Sunday’s game.

Team news

Roberto De Zerbi confirmed that Joel Veltman is available after recovering from a hamstring injury and Levi Colwill is back in the squad. Adam Webster is still out but Albion have no fresh injury worries after Thursday's game at Newcastle. Head coach Roberto De Zerbi said, "Veltman may be available. I haven’t decided the squad yet, I will speak on Sunday morning to some of the players who played 90 minutes against Newcastle before finding a strong XI to play a tough game."

He added that Adam Webster could return for Wednesday's match against Manchester City.

Our last meeting

10:11

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Extended PL Highlights: Southampton 1 Albion 3

Solly March scored the pick of the goals in our 3-1 win over Saints at St Mary’s back on Boxing Day. Adam Lallana gave us the lead against his former club, before Romain Perraud’s own goal put us two up before the break. March curled one into the top left corner to make it 3-0, before James Ward-Prowse fired home on the rebound after his penalty was saved by Rob Sanchez.

Match stats

Brighton have won two of their last four league games against Southampton (D2), as many as they had in their previous 18 against them (D8 L8).

Southampton are unbeaten in their five Premier League away games against Brighton (W3 D2), with their last away league defeat against them coming in the Championship in January 2012 (0-3).

The home side has never won in 11 Premier League meetings between Brighton and Southampton (D6 L5), making it the most played fixture in the competition's history without a home win.

Having lost their final away league game in just one of their first six seasons back in the Premier League since 2012-13 (W4 D1), Southampton have now done so in three of their last four campaigns (W1).

Brighton suffered a 5-1 home defeat to Everton last time at the Amex, with the Toffees starting the day in 19th position. The Seagulls have only won four of their 18 home Premier League matches against sides in the relegation zone (D10 L4) and have lost their last two overall, also losing 3-1 to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in April, who were 19th.

Already relegated Southampton have lost their last four Premier League games, their third run of four or more defeats in a row in the 2022-23 campaign. Each manager to take charge of the Saints this season has had a four-game losing run (Hasenhüttl, Jones and Selles).

Southampton have shipped 3+ goals in each of their last three away Premier League games (3-3 vs Arsenal, 1-3 vs Newcastle, 3-4 vs Nottingham Forest). They last did so in four away games in a row in their first four away matches of the 2012-13 season.

Since winning two of their first three Premier League games under Ruben Selles (L1), Southampton have won none of their last 11 under the Spaniard (D3 L8), the longest current winless run in the division and longest for the Saints under a single manager since Mauricio Pellegrino went 12 without a win between November 2017 and January 2018.

Players aged under the age of 21 have played 7,321 minutes in the Premier League this season for Southampton, the most by a team in a single campaign since Man City in 2007-08 (7,835). 29% of those minutes have been played by 19-year-old Roméo Lavia (2,084), who has been booked nine times. Only two teenagers have received 10 yellows in one season: Wayne Rooney in 2003-04 (11) and Lee Cattermole in 2006-07 (10).

Alexis Mac Allister has scored seven goals in his last 12 Premier League home starts for Brighton, with all those coming in the 2022-23 campaign. Only Glenn Murray (8 in 2018-19) has scored more at the Amex in a season for the Seagulls than Mac Allister this season.

Match officials

Referee: Paul Tierney. Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Neil Davies. Fourth official: John Busby. VAR: Simon Hooper. Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes.