Brighton & Hove Albion vs Fulham: 27/01/2021 – match preview and predicted starting XIs

Brighton and Hove Albion vs Fulham

Date: 27/01/2021

K/O: 19:30

Venue: Amex Stadium 

TV: BT Sport 

Seventeenth placed Seagulls take on eighteenth placed Fulham on Wednesday evening, as Scott Parker’s side drift closer to relegation, with no wins from eight in the Premier League. The significance of this clash cannot be understated and could be labelled as a ‘six-pointer’, with the teams being next to each other in the league.

Last time out Brighton won 1-0 against Leeds, ending a winless streak of nine games. Neal Maupay scored the only goal of the game, finishing off a well-worked move and scoring his seventh of the season.

Fulham lost 2-1 against league leaders Manchester United last week. Ademola Lookman put Fulham ahead after only five minutes, but Edinson Cavani and Paul Pogba fought back to make it 2-1 and send the Cottagers even closer to relegation.

Despite their precarious position, Brighton have only lost two games from their last 10 – accumulating 11 points (W2, D5, L3). Their inconsistent form finds them only five points above the relegation zone and in with a chance of going down. To make matters worse, Fulham have a game in hand, which would reduce the gap to just two points.

Fulham’s return to the Premier League hasn’t been too kind to them. The Cottagers are second bottom, with only two wins and 15 goals scored. 40 points is usually considered safety from relegation and at the half-way point, Fulham have 12 points, which is nowhere near good enough.

In recent games, their performances have been better. Last week Parker’s side challenged Man Utd in a tight 2-1 loss and the week before they lost 1-0 to Chelsea, in another closely contested game. Despite these back-to-back losses, they had drawn their previous three games and now have the second-highest amount of draws in the league (6), behind Liverpool (7).

Brighton’s best player so far this season is arguably Neal Maupay. The French striker has seven goals and three assists to his name. Last season he scored 10 goals and looks likely to smash that record this year. He’ll certainly be hoping for goals against a leaky Fulham defence.

Both teams match-up similarly in defensive – Brighton have two clean sheets, whilst Fulham have three. Wednesday’s game will likely be won in midfield. It’ll come down to who can control the game and create the most chances. With both teams having poor defensive records, it could become an end-to-end game, with both teams desperate for the win and the chance to move further/closer to their opponent.

The last time these two sides met it ended in a 0-0 stalemate. In fact, Brighton and Hove Albion are winless in their last three Premier League meetings with Fulham, losing once and drawing twice. A win for the visitors would be a huge step towards safety.

Team News 

Brighton and Hove Albion 

Graham Potter has a few injury decisions to make ahead of Wednesdays’ clash. Tariq Lamptey has been out for a lengthy spell with a hamstring injury he picked up last time Albion faced Fulham, six games ago.

In midfield, Adam Lallana is in contention, but he might miss out due to a lack of match fitness. Alireza Jahanbakhsh has had a knock and won’t feature on Wednesday. In attack, Danny Welbeck is still unavailable with a knock he picked up against West Ham. Aaron Connolly could play a part off the bench, as he is suffering from a lack of match fitness. This means Maupay will almost certainly start up top for the Seagulls.

Fulham 

Defender Antonee Robinson is suspended after his red card challenge against Chelsea. Joe Bryan will likely take his place after he played the remaining minutes at Stamford Bridge and the full game against Man Utd. Long term absentee Tom Cairney hasn’t featured in five games and is ruled out with a knee injury. Elsewhere the Cottagers are unscathed and could line-up identically to last week.

Predicted starting XIs