Brighton & Hove Albion vs Burnley
Brighton & Hove Albion will be looking to maintain their form resurgence when they take on Premier League strugglers Burnley at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton performed an impressive comeback to beat Brentford 2-1 at home in midweek Premier League action, bouncing back from last weekend’s 3-2 defeat at Chelsea and maintaining a five-point distance of fourth-placed Manchester City. Despite their indifferent form after the opening 15 Premier League rounds (W7, D4, L4), the ‘Seagulls’ should be confident about racking up back-to-back league wins for the first time since September, having gone unbeaten in their last six top-flight home outings (W3, L3). However, Roberto De Zerbi’s side can’t take anything for granted as they’ve traditionally flopped in this fixture, going winless in all five previous Premier League H2Hs at the Amex (D3, L2). Now’s the perfect time to turn the tables on Burnley, but much will depend on Brighton’s defense, which has yet to keep a clean sheet this term.
On the other hand, Burnley’s ponderous top-flight return hit a new low in midweek as they fell to a gut-wrenching 1-0 defeat at Wolverhampton, recording their seventh Premier League loss in eight matches (W1). Vincent Kompany’s men have pulled off two league wins this season, yet both have come against fellow promoted rivals Luton and Sheffield United. They’ve lost 12 of their remaining 13 outings (D1) and should consider themselves lucky for commencing this round only three points adrift of safety. Kompany could be staring down the barrel of dismissal unless he finds a way to turn around his side’s disastrous away form that has seen them lose on their last four league travels via a combined score of 9-1.