Brighton & Hove Albion host title-chasing Arsenal at AMEX Stadium.
If Aston Villa fail to win elsewhere, victory could lift Brighton up to eighth, although seventh could be possible if Bournemouth suffer a heavy defeat against Everton.
Team News
Brighton will be without new signing, Diego Gomez as he builds up his match fitness.
Pervis Estupinan (illness) and Adam Webster (hamstring) could be available.
Evan Ferguson, Danny Welbeck (both ankle), Ferdi Kadioglu (toe), Mats Wieffer (thigh), Jack Hinshelwood (knee) and James Milner (hamstring) remain sidelined.
Arsenal could be without Kai Havertz due to illness.
Jurrien Timber however is suspended following his fifth booking of the campaign in their comeback 3-1 win at Brentford.
Bukayo Saka (hamstring), Raheem Sterling, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White (all knee) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Brighton host Arsenal at the AMEX Stadium on Saturday 4 January at 5:30pm GMT, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Brighton have won one of their last five meetings against Arsenal (W1, D1, L3).
- Arsenal have won three of their seven previous Premier League visits to Brighton (W3, D2, L2).
- Mikel Arteta’s Gunners have kept clean sheets in three of their last four trips to Brighton.
- Brighton are looking to avoid going eight consecutive league games without a win for the first time since a 11-match winless run from September – December 2021.
- Gabriel Jesus has scored three goals in Arsenal’s last two away games (W2), during which they conceded one goal in both matches.
Prediction
Winless in seven games, Brighton really need to play with the same quality which we saw at Villa but cut out the defensive mistakes, but I do think that they realistically need to score first to stand any chance of victory.
Arsenal meanwhile weren’t at their best at Brentford but clinical finishing proved the difference, so a more cohesively confident performance is needed if want to put pressure on Liverpool in the title race.
I however do think that Brighton are capable of giving Arsenal a good fight as we saw in North London, but the Gunners should have enough for victory.
Prediction: Brighton 1-2 Arsenal
Result: Brighton 1-1 Arsenal