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Brighton & Hove Albion welcome Watford to the Amex Stadium as both teams look to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Following victories on the opening weekend, victory for either team could temporarily move them up into the top five ahead of Sunday’s fixtures.
Team News
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Joel Veltman is ruled out for Brighton after being forced to self-isolate prior to last weekend’s win at Burnley, following contact with someone who tested positive for Coronavirus.
Danny Welbeck (hamstring), Tariq Lamptey (thigh), Dan Burn (knee) and Kjell Scherpen (ankle) are ruled out.
Watford could be without Juraj Kucka after the veteran defender suffered a leg injury in their opening weekend victory over Aston Villa.
Nathaniel Chalobah (illness) and Josh King (groin) could feature but Joao Pedro (knee) is ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Brighton are unbeaten in five of six previous Premier League meetings against Watford (W2, D3, L1).
- Watford are winless in three Premier League trips to Brighton (D2, L1).
- Ex Watford midfielder, Abdoulaye Doucoure scored in both meetings against Brighton in 2019-20 season, as he netted an own goal in a 3-0 home loss in August 2019 then scored in a 1-1 draw at Brighton in February 2020.
- Brighton are unbeaten in three of their last five opening home matches of a new season (W2, D1, L2).
- Watford have lost just one of their opening five away trips in a new season (W2, D2, L1).
Prediction
Last weekend’s match proved to be a game of two halves for Brighton because they struggled defensively in the first half with Burnley’s intensity, yet were able to calmly regroup and deliver an intelligent attacking display in the second half to clinch victory with the right flank proving their key aspect.
Watford meanwhile were excellent against Villa with a proper positive energy to their attacking play across the pitch, although they did seem to mentally switch off towards the end yet clung on despite wasting several chances to potentially have clinched a more dominant win.
On that note, if Brighton pick up where they finished at Burnley and Watford reset themselves and can retain focus then I think we could have a surprisingly entertaining contest on the cards, so I am going for a 1-1 draw although we shouldn’t rule out a 2-2 result yet.
Prediction: Brighton 1-1 Watford
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