The State of Play
Roberto De Zerbi has been consistently linked with a move away from Brighton and Hove Albion this summer but, regardless of what happens, the Seagulls boss will be keen on finishing with a flourish this season. They come into this one on the back of a goalless draw with Brentford in midweek as they still try and chase a top seven or eight finish but they have now managed just two wins in their last eight matches across all competitions.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal begin this weekend’s round of fixtures sitting second in the Premier League table and two points behind Liverpool at the top-of-the-table. The Gunners have been extremely entertaining to watch in this calendar year. They come into this one on the back of a comfortable 2-0 defeat of Luton Town at the Emirates Stadium in their most recent outing on Wednesday evening.
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Team News
Brighton have been dealing with several long-term injury issues throughout the campaign, particularly in attack. They remain without key men such as Jack Hinshelwood, Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma for this one.
Arsenal were without Bukayo Saka from their squad in midweek and he will be assessed in training ahead of this one. Everyone else, bar Netherlands international defender Jurrien Timber, ‘seems ok’ for this weekend.
Expected Line-ups
Brighton & Hove Albion: Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Igor; Gross, Baleba; Buonanotte, Lallana, Adingra; Joao Pedro
Arsenal: David Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Trossard, Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli
What they Said
In the build-up to this weekend, Brighton fans will be boosted by Roberto De Zerbi discussing the future with the Italian confirming that Deniz Undav will return to AMEX Stadium after his loan spell at Stuttgart.
Mikel Arteta was keen to praise all of his squad after their 2-0 defeat of Luton in midweek, describing the squad’s rotation as ‘really positive’ on Wednesday.
When and How to Watch
This match will be played at the AMEX Stadium at 17:30 on Saturday April 6th and will be televised live on Sky Sports in the UK. It will also be able to be streamed live via the Sky Go app in the UK.
Prediction
This has the potential to be quite an entertaining match at the AMEX Stadium on Saturday evening. Brighton’s 30 matches so far this season have consisted of a combined total of 97 goals as they compete for European qualification. Arsenal are the league’s top scorers but they have also been magnificent defensively. Even with the impressive defensive numbers, Brighton will be confident of bloodying the nose of their title challenging opposition and both teams scoring would appear a good bet for this one.
