Match Preview
Brighton and Hove Albion vrs Fulham
Premier League Match Day 19 2021 at Amex Stadium
Wednesday 27th January 2021 KO: 19:30pm
Referee:
Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire)
Live on BT Sports
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Two teams fighting for survival in the Premier League will face off at the Amex Stadium on Wednesday evening as Brighton & Hove Albion lock horns with Fulham.
The hosts finally managed to secure a long-awaited three points in the Premier League by beating Leeds United 1-0 on January 16, whereas Fulham suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Manchester United last time out.
Fulham Coach Head Scott Parker has insisted that Fulham are no longer the Premier League's "laughing stock", but there was no joy to be had for the Cottagers against Man United last week.
Another stunning strike from Paul Pogba sealed the win for the league leaders, who had initially fallen behind through Ademola Lookman's goal before Edinson Cavani levelled proceedings, and that defeat to Man United extended Fulham's winless league run to eight matches.
Only three of those games have ended in defeat, but multiple failures to take home all three points leaves the Cottagers firmly in the bottom three ahead of this game, and Parker's men cannot clamber out of the drop zone even if they do manage to win this week.
Fulham have recorded just one defeat from their last four top-flight matches on the road and held Tottenham to a draw earlier this month, so the fighting spirit is there, but they did not show it in their dismal 3-0 FA cup defeat to Burnley at the weekend.
Brighton and Fulham played out a drab goalless stalemate in their first meeting of the season last month, but the last time that the visitors recorded two 0-0 draws against an opponent in a top-flight season was in the 2001-02 campaign with Leeds.
Prior to taking on Marcelo Bielsa's Leeds at Elland Road, Brighton had tried and failed to win a Premier League game in nine attempts since beating Aston Villa on November 21.
However, Graham Potter's men ensured that their winless run did not reach double figures as they battled their way to a 1-0 triumph over the Whites, with Neal Maupay tapping home from Alexis Mac Allister's pass as Brighton won for just the third time in the league this season.
The Seagulls have now opened up a five-point gap between themselves and the dotted line with that crucial triumph, although their midweek opponents Fulham do have a game in hand and will be determined to close the gap on Wednesday evening.
Brighton followed up their win over Leeds with another narrow triumph over Blackpool in the FA Cup, with that 2-1 victory representing the first time since September that the Seagulls have won twice in a row across all competitions, and they will now face Leicester City in the fifth round during a daunting run of February fixtures.
Potter's men must take on Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Leicester and Aston Villa in the coming weeks, so a victory over fellow relegation rivals Fulham will be of paramount importance to Brighton in their bid to avoid the drop.
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Fulham have conceded nine goals in their last three away league games against Brighton (D1 L2) since their last win at the Amex in the November 2014 in the Championship, a 2-1 victory with goals from Hugo Rodallega and Lasse Vigen Christensen.
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The Cottagers' only victory in the eight most recent meetings in all competitions was by 4-2 at home in the Premier League two years ago (D2, L5).
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Brighton and Hove Albion are winless in their three Premier League meetings with Fulham (D2 L1), coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in their only previous meeting at the Amex Stadium in September 2018.
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All four of Brighton's Premier League goals against Fulham have been scored by Glenn Murray, who is now on loan at Watford. Murray has had 31% of the Seagulls shots against Fulham (12/39), with 13 other players attempting 27 shots combined without scoring.
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Fulham are winless in eight Premier League games (D5 L3), since a 2-1 win at Leicester in November. The Cottagers have alternated between not scoring (4) and scoring one goal (4) in each of those eight games, netting the opener against Manchester United last time out.
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They have lost three successive matches in all competitions.
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Their four goals from set-pieces this season is the lowest tally in the top flight.
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Only West Brom and Sheffield United have kept fewer Premier League clean sheets this season than Fulham's three.
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Ademola Lookman has been involved in five of Fulham's past seven Premier League goals, scoring two and setting up Ademola Lookman has been involved in more Premier League goals than any other Fulham player this season (3 goals, 3 assists). In his English league career, he's only been involved in more goals in 2016-17 with Charlton and Everton (6 goals, 2 assists).
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Fulham's 0-0 draw with Brighton in December ended a run of 196 home league games without a goalless draw - the Cottagers haven't drawn both games with an opponent goalless in a season since 2001/02, when they did so against Leicester City.
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Following their 1-0 win at Leeds last time out, Brighton are looking to secure back-to-back Premier League victories for the first time since November 2019. However, each of their last five league wins have been away from home.
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They are on a club record league run of 13 successive home matches without a win.
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Brighton have won just one of their last 18 home Premier League games (D9 L8). The Seagulls have won just 18 of their 66 home games overall (27%), the lowest percentage in Premier League history among the 42 teams to play in at least three seasons.
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Their past five league victories have all come away.
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Albion could win back-to-back league games for only the second time under Graham Potter.
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They have never won a Premier League match played on a Wednesday, drawing five and losing five,
Neal Maupay could score in four consecutive league starts for the first time since 2018, when he was at Brentford.
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Brighton striker Neal Maupay has scored in each of his last three Premier League starts. The Frenchman last scored in four consecutive league starts in August/September 2018 with Brentford.