The club from the Amex, in their first season under Hurzeler, failed to achieve the goal of returning to European competition. However, they came very close, finishing eighth with 61 points. Their ambitions remain unchanged this season, but results have been inconsistent so far. In recent rounds, they drew with West Ham and suffered defeats to Aston Villa and Liverpool.
The visitors spent a long time lingering at a modest level. But before last season, Le Bris arrived from France and, at the first attempt, secured promotion from the Championship via the playoffs. The newcomer has managed to stay among the contenders for European qualification, and a 1-0 win in the derby against Newcastle confirmed this.
The hosts are once again playing entertaining football: averaging 1.56 goals scored and 1.44 conceded per game. The ambitious Premier League newcomer manages to score an average of 1.19 goals per match while conceding 1.06.
Brighton & Hove Albion lost two of their last three matches.
69% of Brighton’s matches end with both teams scoring and an average total of 3.0 goals per game
Sunderland have won just two of their last seven matches
44% of Sunderland’s matches end with both teams scoring and an average total of 2.25 goals per game.
Brighton & Hove Albion (possible line-up): Verbruggen – Kadioglu, Dunk, van Hecke, Wieffer – Gomez, Baleba, de Keyper, Gruda, Minteh – Cimas.
Sunderland (possible line-up): Rufus – Hume, Alderete, Ballard, Geertruida, Mukiele – Le Fée, Sadiki, G. Xhaka, Traoré – Isidor.
