Brighton & Hove Albion will host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday. In the first leg of their Europa League last-16 match, Roma demolished the Seagulls 4-0. The Tricky Trees suffered a late blow to their stomach in a 1-0 loss to Liverpool.
Preview (Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Nottingham Forest)
Brighton has suffered three straight losses in all competitions for the first time since the Roberto De Zerbi era began. They lost even more badly to rampaging Roma after losing the FA Cup to Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Premier League 3-0 to Fulham. Paulo Dybala, Romello Lukaku, Gianluca Mancini, and Bryan Cristante scored the goals that will undoubtedly signal the end of Brighton’s first-ever European trip, unless De Zerbi’s disoriented team can stage a highly unlikely second-leg comeback on March 14 in the style of Barcelona.
De Zerbi had not lost three straight games as a manager since his otherwise highly regarded time at Sassuolo in January 2020. As a result of Fulham’s shocking three-goal thrashing last weekend, the ninth-place hosts are now three points behind West Ham United in the final European spot. Brighton has only scored once in their previous four games and drawn in their last three. Their 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United on February 18 was not a good indication of things to come. However, the sun frequently shines on the blue and white shirts at the Amex Stadium.
AEK Athens was the last visiting team to win on September 21. The Seagulls go into Sunday’s encounter hoping to continue their admirable 12-match unbeaten streak at home. De Zerbi’s team hasn’t lost a top-flight match at their Amex base since August. Speaking of unbeaten home sequences, Liverpool had never won a Premier League game at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground previous to last weekend’s contest, but Jurgen Klopp’s side broke that curse in dubious circumstances to leave the Tricky Trees lonely and furious.
Team News
Billy Gilmour will serve the third and final game of his three-match domestic suspension this weekend. He received a red card against Everton at the end of February. Adam Lallana or Carlos Baleba should gain from his absence. James Milner and Joao Pedro scored two goals at the City Ground four months ago. Neither of them should make a comeback here, as Solly March (knee), Kaoru Mitoma (back), and Jack Hinshelwood (foot) won’t be leaving the infirmary for a while.
As Vis Estupinan, Adam Webster, Joel Veltman, Ansu Fati, and Evan Ferguson fight for their spots back, the Brighton manager still has a lot of alternatives for rotation and shouldn’t be afraid to make a lot of changes. Not only did Nottingham Forest lose their composure after the match against Liverpool, but they also lost Nicolas Dominguez to a hamstring injury. Santo is hoping the midfield player’s ailment was not more serious than stiffness. Both Ola Aina and Willy Boly have not played since the Africa Cup of Nations. Willy Boly is close to making a return. Chris Wood (thigh) and Nuno Tavares (unspecified) will not play on Sunday.
Due to unidentified complaints, Giovanni Reyna and Gonzalo Montiel were likewise absent last weekend. It’s unclear if the two will be available this weekend. If Dominguez is not risked, Danilo and Abraham Sangare—who is returned from his own AFCON-related issue—will be waiting in the wings, and Taiwo Awoniyi—who replaced another former Liverpool striker in Divock Origi after 65 minutes last weekend—should be the man in the middle.
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Nottingham Forest
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