EPL: Gunners seek to dim Brighton

Arsenal vs Brighton

Venue: Emirates Stadium

Kick off:12PM

Arsenal will look to maintain their exceptional record against newly-promoted teams when Brighton visit the Emirates on Sunday (today).

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last 31 Premier League matches against newly-promoted sides (W26 D5), collecting 83 points from a possible 93 since losing 1-2 to QPR in March 2012.

Despite only playing on Thursday in the Europa League, Arsenal were able to rest the majority of their first-team stars in the 4-2 win over BATE Borisov.

That included Alexandre Lacazette, who, after scoring twice against West Brom on Monday, became the first Arsenal player to score in his first three home league appearances since Brian Marwood in 1988.

This is the first league meeting between Brighton and Arsenal since February 1983 and the Seagulls are still trying to find their feet in the top-flight.

They took a big step in the right direction in beating Newcastle last weekend, which has left them with seven points from their opening six Premier League games.

Alexis Sanchez, Lacazette, Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka could all return for Arsenal after being rested for the midweek trip to Belarus.

​Mesut Ozil has returned to training after a knee problem but remains a doubt while Laurent Koscielny is rated “50/50” by Arsene Wenger due to an Achilles issue.

Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Danny Welbeck and Calum Chambers are out injured. Alex Iwobi faces a test over the weekend to see if he will feature.

Brighton will be without Tomer Hemed, who starts a three-match ban after appearing to stamp on Newcastle defender DeAndre Yedlin last weekend.

Sam Baldock is still missing with a calf problem but Glenn Murray has an outside chance of being involved after an ankle injury. Steve Sidwell is recovering from back surgery and Beram Kayal is a long-term absentee having broken his leg.