Brighton vs. Everton
Venue: Amex Stadium
Kick off:1:30PM
Two sides locked on seven points in the Premier League face off at the Amex Stadium this afternoon as Brighton & Hove Albion play host to Everton.
While Brighton can be pleased enough with their start to the campaign, it has been a different story for the visitors after being tipped to challenge for a place in the top six this term.
Following a three-match winless run to begin the campaign, albeit with a positive point picked up away to Watford, Brighton have since earned two wins in their last four outings to move up to 14th place in the division.
The pragmatic approach adopted by boss Chris Hughton appears to be working, helping his side to home wins over West Bromwich Albion and fellow newly-promoted side Newcastle United in the lead-up to the international break.
Four of Brighton’s five goals have come at the Amex Stadium, and with Southampton, Stoke City and Crystal Palace next to visit the south coast before the end of November, there is a good chance for Hughton’s men to put some further distance between themselves and the bottom three.
On the contrary, the pressure on Ronald Koeman is slowly but surely building on the Dutchman following the Toffees’ hugely disappointing start to the campaign, seeing them fail to live up to the pre-season hype.
Everton have won just two of their last 10 games since the middle of August, losing exactly half of those, while also going 11 Premier League away games without a win stretching back to February.
Koeman’s 18% win record away from Merseyside is simply not good enough for a side aiming to seriously challenge for a place among the elite, leaving them lingering in the bottom half of the division and in serious need of a boost.
The Toffees must hit the ground running on the back of the two-week break, as they face a run of seven games in 21 days across three different competitions, including the midweek visit of Lyon in a crucial Europa League group-stage showdown.
Brighton & Hove Albion possible XI: Ryan, Bruno, Dunk, Duffy, Suttner; March, Stephens, Gross, Izquierdo, Knockaert, Brown.
Everton possible XI: Pickford;,Martina, Keane, Williams, Baines; Schneiderlin, Gueye; Calvert-Lewin, Rooney, Sigurdsson, Niasse.