Brighton & Hove Albion face a tricky Premier League test at home to relegation-battling Burnley.
Victory would lift Brighton up to eighth in the table, whilst Burnley can climb to 18th with a win if West Ham lose at Wolves.
Team News
Mats Wieffer is ruled out for Brighton after he missed their 2-2 draw at West Ham due to a toe injury.
Yankuba Minteh suffered a dead leg in East London but might be rested as a precaution ahead of their trip to Manchester City on Wednesday 7 January.
Carlos Baleba (international duty), Stefanos Tzimas (ACL), Solly March and Adam Webster (both knee) remain sidelined.
Burnley will be without Maxime Esteve after he suffered a muscle injury during their 3-1 home loss to Newcastle.
Joe Worrall and Zian Flemming are both set to miss this game with knocks.
Lyle Foster, Axel Tuanzebe, Hannibal Mejbri (all international duty), Zeki Amdouni (knee), Josh Cullen (ACL), Conor Roberts (Achilles) and Jordan Beyer (hamstring) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Brighton host Burnley at the AMEX Stadium on Saturday 3 January at 3pm GMT, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Brighton have won two of their last eight meetings against Burnley (W2, D5, L1).
- Burnley are yet to lose at Brighton in the Premier League after six previous trips to the AMEX Stadium (W2, D4).
- Four of Brighton’s last five draws against Burnley ended in a 1-1 result except for a 0-0 draw in November 2020.
- No Brighton player has won more tackles this season than Mats Wieffer (27).
- Jaidon Anthony and Zian Flemming have been involved in more league goals than any other Burnley player this season (5), as Anthony produced four goals and one assist whilst Flemming scored five goals.
Prediction
Despite their dominance at West Ham in midweek, Brighton were lucky to come from behind twice to draw because they were largely wasteful in open play but their attacking press certainly was problematic for the Hammers, which is a positive amidst sloppy defensive errors at time.
Burnley though will relish this trip given their recent away form against Brighton, but their end product needs to be more polished in power and accuracy than it was against Newcastle, where defensive errors summed up their defeat especially in the opening minutes.
Injuries and international duty-related absences however do seem to be a big issue for Scott Parker’s Clarets at the minute, whereas Brighton have got their bogey month out of the way so I am expecting them to respond with a clinical display here.
Prediction: Brighton 2-0 Burnley
Result: Brighton 2-0 Burnley
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