Sports Mole previews Sunday’s Premier League clash between Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Fresh from breaking new ground with a maiden European victory, Brighton & Hove Albion switch back to Premier League duties on Sunday, when Fulham make the journey to the Amex Stadium.
The Seagulls saw off crisis club Ajax 2-0 on Thursday for their first-ever Europa League win, while Marco Silva‘s men most recently lost by the same scoreline to London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Match preview
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Hosting a team that were on the cusp of Champions League stardom as recently as the 2018-19 season, Brighton continued their theme of going one better in the Europa League, where they had been denied inaugural successes by AEK Athens and Marseille on the first two matchdays.
However, with the perennial Dutch champions enduring an alarming slump and lacking a new manager bounce following the sacking of Maurice Steijn, Brighton prolonged Ajax’s misfortune with a deserved 2-0 triumph on the South Coast, where Joao Pedro and Ansu Fati wrote their names into Seagulls history.
Seeing off the Amsterdam powerhouses was the perfect tonic to a distressing five-game winless run for Roberto De Zerbi‘s troops, who gave a good account of themselves away to Manchester City last weekend and were a man up in the dying embers owing to Manuel Akanji‘s red card, but the champions still prevailed 2-1.
Facing all of Chelsea, Ajax, Man City, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Marseille represented a particularly gruelling set of fixtures for Brighton, whose three-game winless run in the top flight has bumped them down to seventh in the division, four points adrift of the Champions League places.
Despite their dissatisfactory set of results over the past few weeks, Brighton’s golden touch remains well and truly alive at the Amex Stadium, where they have scored at least twice in each of their last five games and have not drawn a blank in the Premier League since February, although few Seagulls fans will need reminding who inflicted that 1-0 loss onto them.
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Facing the toughest possible assignment that could have awaited them after the international break, Fulham were powerless to prevent Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou from making Premier League history on Monday, where the Lilywhites made light work of their capital counterparts.
Celebrating his September Player of the Month prize in ideal fashion, Son Heung-min‘s crisp strike sent Spurs ahead in the opening 45, where Calvin Bassey did not cover himself in glory, and the former Ajax man was again caught cold for James Maddison‘s insurance goal in the second period.
From Bassey’s hat-trick of errors, two of them were punished at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Marco Silva’s charges went scoreless for the third time in four Premier League matches and failed to improve on their 13th-placed ranking as a result.
Inconsistency has certainly been the name of the game for Fulham, who are yet to register successive wins, draws or defeats in the ongoing Premier League season, but they have gone four top-flight away games without a maximum since a fortunate 1-0 beating of Everton in gameweek one.
The Cottagers were coincidentally on the correct end of such a result in February’s Amex battle, where Brighton failed to make the most of their dominance and succumbed to a Manor Solomon winner, and Fulham remain unbeaten against the Seagulls in the Premier League since their hosts’ promotion in 2017, but this has already been a week of firsts for the men in blue and white.
Brighton & Hove Albion Premier League form:
Brighton & Hove Albion form (all competitions):
Fulham Premier League form:
Fulham form (all competitions):
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Team News
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Alongside three precious points, Brighton came out of their triumph over Ajax without any fresh injury concerns to add to their list of existing absentees, although the same could not be said at the Etihad last weekend.
Indeed, Solly March and Danny Welbeck both left the pitch with knee and muscular problems respectively, and De Zerbi has conceded that the pair will be missing for a “long time”.
Jakub Moder (knee) and Julio Enciso (knee) are keeping the pair company in the infirmary, while Pervis Estupinan (thigh) and Tariq Lamptey (muscle) are the closest to returning, but Sunday’s game will come too soon for both full-backs.
Meanwhile, there has been no change whatsoever in the Fulham medical bay, as central defensive duo Tosin Adarabioyo (groin) and Issa Diop (foot) remain out, meaning Bassey will be blessed with a chance to make amends alongside Tim Ream.
Kenny Tete (groin) and Adama Traore (muscle) are also out of contention for the time being, but Silva is not short of rotational options in the middle and final third, where Alex Iwobi, Harry Wilson and Raul Jimenez could all offer something different.
Another blank for Jimenez would stretch his scoreless Premier League run to 32 games, but out on the left, Willian has two goals and two assists under his belt from five Premier League starts against Brighton.
Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:
Steele; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Igor; Baleba, Gross; Mitoma, Lallana, Fati; Ferguson
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Leno; Castagne, Bassey, Ream, Robinson; Palhinha, Reed; Iwobi, Pereira, Willian; Jimenez
We say: Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 Fulham
Not since their Championship days have Brighton come out on the correct end of the scoreline against Fulham, but the Cottagers’ purple patch appears destined to come to an end on Sunday, even with their hosts suffering from a lack of rest and the absences of March and Welbeck.
A recipe for attacking success continues to elude the Aleksandar Mitrovic-less visitors, who will likely travel back to London ruing yet another goalless and pointless display against De Zerbi’s rejuvenated crop.
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