BRIGHTON PREVIEW

Sunderland are back on the road following on from yet another victory in a Wear-Tyne derby. Our hosts sit just three points behind us in the league and will be seeking a European spot after narrowly missing out last season. Here’s everything you need to know about the Seagulls:

FORM

Brighton and Hove Albion have won two, drawn one and lost two of their last five matches. The wins came at home to Brentford (2-1) and away to Nottingham Forest (2-0), the draw against West Ham United (1-1) and the defeats to Aston Villa (4-3) and Liverpool (2-0). They currently sit in 10th place in the Premier League after 16 games, winning six, drawing five and losing five, whilst scoring 25 goals and conceding 23. Their most recent fixture was the 2-0 loss to Liverpool.

THE MANAGER

32-year-old Fabian Hurzeler is currently in charge, he took the job in July 2024 and has managed 64 games so far. Of those, he’s won 29, drawn 19 and lost 16. He is the youngest permanent head coach in PL history. He previously managed in Germany, taking FC Pipinsried up to the fourth tier in 2017 and winning a second tier title with St Pauli in 2024. Hurzeler also had a playing career as a defensive midfielder, turning out for the second teams of Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim and 1860 Munich, then finishing things up in the lower tiers with Pipinsried and Eimsbutteler TV. Fabian was named the Premier League Manager of the Month in August 2024.

KEY PLAYERS

Bart Verbruggen (Robin Roefs’ main competition for game time in the Netherlands national team) is their current number one goalkeeper, he’s kept three clean sheets in 16 appearances this season. Former Sunderland player Danny Welbeck is their joint-top goalscorer with seven goals, alongside Diego Gomez. Yankuba Minteh is their top playmaker, with four assists in his 17 matches in 2025/26. Other former Sunderland players amongst their ranks are, left winger Tommy Watson (he is an injury doubt for this one) and goalkeeper Jason Steele. Watson, obviously, joined the club in the summer transfer window and the Albion also brought in players such as, attacking midfielder Charalampos Kostoulas, left back Maxim De Cuyper and centre back Diego Coppola.

THE STADIUM

Actually located outside of the area the team its hosts represents (something it shares with the City Ground which isn’t located in Nottingham but rather West Bridgford and Stamford Bridge which is in Hammersmith and Fulham rather than Kensington and Chelsea), the American Express Stadium has been the home of Brighton and Hove Albion since 2011 and holds 31,876 (the 13th biggest in the Premier League). It is actually located in the nearby parish of Falmer, which has a population of just 250, in the Lewes District.

PREDICTION

They’ve generally been quite good at home this season, losing just one out of eight. Then again, they couldn’t beat a poor West Ham team last time out and lost to Aston Villa in the home match before that, despite taking a 2-0 lead in the first half an hour. With our missing players due to AFCON, Hurzeler’s men will definitely fancy their chances though, even if our first XI (particularly the backline) will still look quite good on paper. I’m going to predict a 1-1 draw, a point would be a brilliant result considering the circumstances.