Ed Aarons was at the Amex tonight. Here’s his report. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Fabian Hürzeler speaks to Sky. “It was not the best game from us regarding intensity and positional … we only deserve a result like this … normally we should have finished the game in the first half … but we didn’t and then you get punished … we have to keep working … it’s a process … it takes time … we have to keep going … don’t focus too much on the results, focus on the performance … the results will come … small details might bring you the win … we didn’t do that today … we should not think about what is possible … the reality is that we have a lot of hard work to do … I received a yellow card, players can foul an amount of times but don’t receive a yellow card, it’s difficult to explain.”
… and as for his much-criticised insistence on progressive play, he notes: “We’re trying to find a balance … we’ve lost too many points through game management … tonight the boys managed the game better … so it’s keep trying to work with the boys and make them better … there are a few scary moments but I think you have to accept that … Tyler Dibling couldn’t play if we were just grinding.”
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An irritated Russell Martin talks to Sky Sports. “In the first half we lacked a little bit of aggression and belief … I asked the players for a bit more … they were brilliant in the second half … I’m fed up talking about the decisions … I don’t want to be that guy … it was a brilliant, well-worked goal … if Adam Armstrong’s run had moved Verbruggen at all from his position I would understand the decision … but he hasn’t moved … the ball goes behind Adam and I can’t see how it’s affected the goalkeeper … he actually takes a step away from Adam … now it’s not clear and obvious enough because the on-field decision carries weight … I’m annoyed about it … but I’m really happy with the performance and proud of my players.”
In the interests of balance … while Southampton will feel aggrieved at the decision to rule out Cameron Archer’s goal, on another day Flynn Downes could have easily picked up two yellows before scoring the equaliser. Hey, half the fun of football is moaning about refereeing decisions, so it’s great that both sets of supporters have something to get their teeth stuck into. That’s right, yes?
Saints goalscorer Flynn Downes speaks to Sky. “It’s massive … to come here … we knew it would be tough … we’ll take the point … what a feeling [to score] … we know our form hasn’t been great but hopefully this is a turning point in our season … hopefully we can kick on.”
Player of the match Tyler Dibling adds: “We got another goal disallowed by VAR … we feel we’ve been unlucky this season … obviously it’s a good point in the table … we need to step it up from here … it’s good to get a run of games and show people what I can do.”
On balance of play, a draw seems about right. Brighton were by far the better team in the first half; Southampton much improved after the break. But luck is hard to come by when you’re rock bottom, and the decision to rule out Cameron Archer’s goal for interference from the offside Adam Armstrong looked contentious at best. It really didn’t look like Bart Verbruggen was affected in any significant fashion by Armstrong’s fresh-air swipe as the ball came across. Then again, as so often with these borderline decisions, a case can be made either way, and with the on-field team having already called the goal offside, perhaps there wasn’t enough in it to overturn. Who knows? Oh VAR. But here we are, and a point apiece is enough to send Brighton into the heady heights of second spot, for one night at least, while at the bottom Saints nudge a little closer to Crystal Palace.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 12 | 16 | 31 |
| 2 | Brighton | 13 | 5 | 23 |
| 3 | Man City | 12 | 5 | 23 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 12 | 9 | 22 |
| 5 | Arsenal | 12 | 9 | 22 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 | 14 | 19 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 12 | 2 | 19 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 12 | 0 | 19 |
| 9 | Fulham | 12 | 0 | 18 |
| 10 | Newcastle | 12 | 0 | 18 |
| 11 | Brentford | 12 | 0 | 17 |
| 12 | Man Utd | 12 | 0 | 16 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 12 | -1 | 15 |
| 14 | West Ham | 12 | -4 | 15 |
| 15 | Everton | 12 | -7 | 11 |
| 16 | Leicester | 12 | -8 | 10 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 12 | -8 | 9 |
| 18 | Ipswich | 12 | -10 | 9 |
| 19 | Crystal Palace | 12 | -7 | 8 |
| 20 | Southampton | 13 | -15 | 5 |
FULL TIME: Brighton 1-1 Southampton
A furious Russell Martin makes a beeline for the referee Fabian Hürzeler but is stopped by his staff. VAR, huh.
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90 min +13: Minteh curls in. Van Hecke eyebrows weakly wide right. And then the whistle goes.
90 min +12: Fernandes has the chance of releasing Sulemana down the middle, but his pass hits the substitute striker on the heel. Brighton go up the other end, and Dibling is booked for a reckless lunge on the in-flight Mitoma. One last chance for Brighton with this free kick just to the left of the box.
90 min +11: … Ferguson finds himself bundled over, but only when competing for a flicked-on ball while in a clear offside position. No penalty. For a split second there, Southampton hearts were in mouths.
90 min +10: Mitoma runs hard down the left. His cross is met by Adingra, who bundles a weak shot across Lumley and off the outside of the right-hand post! There was a deflection, so that’ll be a corner. From which …
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90 min +9: Van Hecke pearls a long-distance shot towards the top-right corner. He’s hit it well, but he’s so far out, it’s easy pickings for Lumley, who one loose pass apart, has looked pretty solid for Saints tonight.
90 min +8: It’s petering out again.
90 min +7: Dibling embarks on a power dribble down the right and is unceremoniously checked by Wieffer, who goes into the book.
90 min +5: The folk at the Premier League Match Centre have published their reasoning for the disallowed goal. “The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR as Armstrong was in an offside position and deemed to be impacting Verbruggen’s ability to play the ball.” Nobody knows anything any more. Partly because everyone’s winging it.
90 min +4: Fraser’s latest cross from the left is plucked from the sky by Verbruggen.
90 min +3: Ayari enters the Saints box down the left and goes over in the general environs of Harwood-Bellis. He wants a penalty, but neither referee nor VAR shows any interest whatsoever. And quite rightly so.
90 min +2: Minteh’s cross from the right is headed goalwards by Adingra. Easy for Lumley.
90 min +1: Armstrong is replaced by a freshly shorn Brereton Diaz.
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90 min: There will be ten minutes of additional time. Little wonder: a lot of subs plus that long VAR check.
89 min: Dibling and Estupinan get involved in a pointless shoving match over nothing very much at all. The referee merely waves play on.
88 min: Estupinan crosses from the left. Ferguson cushions a header down to Ayari, who slashes a wild effort over the bar from the penalty spot. He had more time than he thought. Then both teams make a change, Minteh replacing Rutter for the hosts, Sulemana coming on for Archer for the Saints.
86 min: Fraser has made a difference since coming on. A couple of crosses from the left cause the hosts some momentary bother. He looks the most likely to create something right now.
85 min: This match is slowly petering out. Can either team find the energy for a final push?
83 min: Armstrong spins and swivels his way down the left. His dinked cross is only half cleared, but Dibling’s attempted volley is scuffed and easily blocked.
81 min: Ferguson manages to skittle both Fraser and Manning in one fell swoop. Some good old-fashioned number-nine play.
80 min: Lumley is fine to continue. The game restarts, and Dibling glides in from the right before bobbling a shot towards the bottom right. Easy for Verbruggen.
79 min: As the keeper gets his right knee checked, Brighton make another change, Ferguson coming on for Welbeck.
77 min: Lumley is down getting some treatment.
75 min: Brighton, full of relief, go on the attack in search of the Saints Sickener. Rutter tries an overhead that flies inches wide of the left-hand post. Dunk sends a header over. Wieffer ditto. Southampton, brought back down to earth, need to clear their heads of that crushing disappointment.
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74 min: A triple change by Brighton. Wieffer, Adingra and Dunk come on for Lamptey, Pedro and O’Riley.
NO GOAL. Brighton 1-1 Southampton
72 min: VAR decides Armstrong’s flick towards the ball constitutes interference. That’s a fairly generous interpretation, it has to be said. Van Hecke was out of the game, and Verbruggen didn’t seem affected. But here we are.
71 min: Archer is on! But did Armstrong – certainly in an offside position by the near post, ahead of Van Hecke, neither of them close to Archer stood behind them in the centre – make a movement towards the ball that had an impact on play?
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70 min: This is really tight. Archer in the centre looks off to the naked eye, but Lamptey, in the right-back position could be playing him on.
69 min: … but VAR is going to have a look at this. The flag has popped up for offside. It’s very tight. Was Archer inches off? Out come the rulers.
GOAL! Brighton 1-2 Southampton (Archer 67)
Dibling sashays in from the right and sends Fraser scampering into acres down the left. Fraser crosses. Archer opens his body and slams into the bottom right. Easy as that! What an outrageous turnaround!
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66 min: Downes is replaced before he can get himself sent off. Aribo comes on in his stead, while Sugawara makes way for Fraser.
64 min: Southampton assistant manager Matt Gill was the recipient of that aforementioned booking.
63 min: That goal has given Southampton such succour, and now Armstrong barrels down the left into space. Archer is free in the middle, but he can’t find him with his cross. Had the cross been any good, it was surely 2-1 to Saints. How quickly games can change.
62 min: … and breathe. The Brighton free kick leads to nothing.
61 min: Before the free kick can be taken, there’s a brouhaha involving both managerial teams. Someone gets booked. Not sure who. Russell Martin maybe.
60 min: Some may argue Downes shouldn’t be on the pitch, having come very close to picking up a second yellow in the first half. Even more so now, as Downes skittles Pedro, who was in flight down the left. Did he elbow him? There didn’t look much in it, and the referee awards no more than a free kick, but Downes is surely in the last-chance saloon now.
GOAL! Brighton 1-1 Southampton (Downes 59)
Dibling wins possession in the centre circle. He drives down the inside-left channel. Manning is fed to his left. Manning checks and tries to tee up Armstrong. There’s some pinball, then the ball breaks to Downes on the edge of the box. Downes pearls into the bottom right through a crowded box, and it’s fair to say this has come against the run of play!
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58 min: Sugawara sends Archer scampering down the right. A fine pass and a clever run, but the resulting cross sails half a mile over Armstrong’s head. Verbruggen still hasn’t been put to any sort of meaningful work.
56 min: Estupinan’s curling free kick is only half cleared. O’Riley meets it on the edge of the D and sends his shot bouncing towards the bottom left. Lumley claims easily enough.
55 min: Harwood-Bellis is booked for cynically body-checking the in-flight Mitoma. Free kick out on the Brighton left. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Saints box.
53 min: … but here it’s Brighton over-elaborating out from the back. Ayari plays Lamptey into trouble near the right-back’s corner flag, and Armstrong’s pressure earns Southampton a corner. Nothing comes of this set piece either, but please file this entry also under Dearie Me.
51 min: Yeah, Southampton look ragged at the back all right. Lumley’s clumsy pass out nearly clanks straight into Mitoma; Rutter picks up the ball and has his shot deflected wide right. Nothing comes of the corner, but dearie me, Southampton can’t keep on like this.
50 min: Brighton triangulate prettily down the right. O’Riley sends a low forensic cross through the six-yard box. Mitoma can’t quote get his toe to it. Southampton still looking ragged at the back.
49 min: Ayari nicks the ball off Dibling but just as Mitoma begins tearing off towards a lightly-guarded Southampton box, the referee kindly blows for a generous free kick.
47 min: Lamptey crosses deep from the right. Welbeck competes at the far stick, to little effect. Otherwise a slow start to the half. Goal kick.
Brighton get the second half underway. No changes … other than referee Rob Jones, just before the restart, swapping what looked like his whistle for a new one.
Half-time pancontinental postbag. “I think Mitoma’s header was not quite a sitter. Very hard to get the timing right when the ball is bouncing up to you on a header. His first chance when he nicked the ball was a lot easier. Always love watching him play, particularly the fact he did his PhD in dribbling. Who knew he could score with his head too?” – Calvin from Old Bar, Australia
“Unlike most Americans, I am not sleeping off a turkey-induced coma, just watching a bunch of football (of both persuasions). This weekend is so filled with sports, seemingly from dawn to dusk, that it can be a little overwhelming. Which is why God created wine. Sorry for the Saints, but I think this one is the Seagulls to lose” – Joe Pearson
“We in Brighton were at the edge of the BBC South Today region so got no coverage for about 45 years. It was all Southampton this, Portsmouth that. To be fair we were a rundown resort, and we had only Peter Ward. So we have NOTHING against the town or its people and supporters, other than a forever-deep-seated bile against those club names” – Simon Wellard
Half-time advertisement break. It’s the big game between the Lionesses and the USWNT tomorrow. We’ll have MBM coverage for you from 4pm GMT, but in the meantime allow us to whet your appetite.
HALF TIME: Brighton 1-0 Southampton
Brighton have been by far the better team, Saints their usual flaky defensive selves. But the visitors have shown at least some potential of scoring, so this isn’t over yet. A second goal for the hosts would surely kill it, though.
45 min +4: Pedro spins Downes down the inside-left channel. Downes tries to grab a handful of his shirt, then pushes him over. He’s really stress-testing his luck now. One more, surely, and he’ll be off. Just a free kick, from which nothing happens.
45 min +2: Stephens, playing out from the back … well, you know what happens to his crossfield pass. It’s intercepted by Mitoma, who passes infield to Pedro. A low shot is easily snaffled by Lumley, the keeper getting his team-mate out of jail.
45 min +1: Mitoma scuttles into the Saints box down the left but can’t find anybody with his low cross.
45 min: There will be four additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Sugawara crosses again from the right. It’s a lovely delivery that evades Julio’s slide at the near post. Archer meets the ball six yards out, level with the near post, but can only shin high and wide. That’s a dismal miss. That should have been the equaliser.
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43 min: Sugawara bombs down the right, reaches the byline, and crosses long. Now it’s Brighton’s turn to allow the ball to bounce freely in their own box, and Manning, racing in from the left, has a speculative shot. He drags it into a crowded mixer, and the ball deflects out for a corner. The set piece is easily dealt with.
41 min: Lamptey and Rutter combine to win a corner down the right. O’Riley takes it. Saints clear it, but Brighton soon come back at the visitors, Pedro having a whack that gets blocked the second it leaves his boot. Saints aren’t quite at the hanging-on stage, but Brighton are certainly pushing for the second.
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39 min: O’Riley faffs around with the ball, 30 yards from his own goal, allowing Armstrong to nick the ball and tee up Fernandes for a shot. The effort is blocked by Van Hecke. Better from Saints, though the bar is not set high.
37 min: Rutter is fine to continue. When play restarts, Archer goes scampering down the right and though his cross towards Armstrong is poor, he at least wins another corner. Nothing comes of this one either, but again, at the risk of belabouring the point: Southampton’s best form of defence is unquestionably attack.
35 min: Dibling tries to make something happen with a determined run down the left. Rutter slides in and nicks the ball away, but hurts his own shoulder in doing so. Play is stopped, and that’s good news for Downes, who seconds later comes barging into the back of O’Riley. Downes, already on a booking, wants to watch himself here.
33 min: So far this season, Southampton have lost all eight games in which they’ve conceded first. The way they’ve played so far tonight, they’ll not be bucking that trend unless something changes quicksmart.
31 min: Walker-Peters grapples with Rutter again, this time going into the book. Also seeing yellow: the Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler, for telling it as he sees it. That’s his third booking of the season, and a touchline ban for the upcoming Fulham game.
30 min: Harwood-Bellis and Stephens on walkabout there. A huge gap in the middle of the Southampton box, the ball inexplicably allowed to bounce, teeing up Mitoma for a sitter.
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GOAL! Brighton 1-0 Southampton (Mitoma 29)
Walker-Peters fouls Rutter out on the right.The resulting free kick is worked upfield to Lamptey, who crosses into the Saints box. There’s nobody in the middle of it. The ball bounces on the spot, then rears up for Mitoma, racing in from the left. Mitoma powers a header home, one he could hardly miss. Easy as that. A decent cross, but where was the Southampton defence?
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27 min: Free kick for Saints out on the left. Manning swings it in. It’s so easy for Verbruggen. Frustrated groans from the away end. “While the Seagulls are eating many bigger clubs’ lunches these heady days, it’s sad to see the Saints as the league’s bottom feeders,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Even if Russell Martin is a Buddhist, he might get canonized if he somehow manages to keep Southhampton up this season.”
26 min: Saints are winning corners, if achieving little else. Armstrong with the latest, this time down the left. Fernandes sends it in. It’s half cleared. Walker-Peters tries again. That’s cleared too. Verbruggen hasn’t had any work to do yet.
24 min: Mitoma makes off down the left and cuts back to Estupinan, who whips a cross onto the head of Welbeck, ten yards out and level with the near post. Welbeck sends his header high and wide … but not by much. Brighton close again.
22 min: Now it’s Walker-Peters’ turn to thank his lucky stars for a fuss-free referee. He wrestles Pedro to the ground, and, well, you’ve seen yellow flashed for less. When the game restarts, Estupinan crosses from the left, and O’Riley flashes a header harmlessly over the bar from the edge of the box.
20 min: Dibling is again clipped mid-dribble, this time by Mitoma. A fussier referee might have booked the Brighton man. Fernandes swings the resulting free kick into the box from the right; it’s easy pickings for Verbruggen.
18 min: Archer’s shot-cum-cross from the right is deflected out for a corner. The set piece leads to some head tennis, but Brighton eventually clear their lines. Southampton’s best form of defence may well be attack.
17 min: The exciting young winger Dibling advances elegantly down the inside-right channel and is stopped in cynical style by O’Riley. Into the book he goes.
16 min: Brighton patiently probe … and then Rutter takes a couple of touches infield from the right and sends a rising curler across Lumley and off the left-hand post. The ball crashes away from danger. So close to the opener.
15 min: It was all Southampton for the first three minutes. Since then, that Manning cross aside, they’ve barely had a touch. Brighton settling into doing what Brighton do.
14 min: Welbeck is thankfully fine to continue.
13 min: Welbeck stays down, his ankle requiring a look. On comes the physio. “I know the talking point is positive about him, but I still think it’s harsh to say Welbeck has ‘quieted down’ after three matches without a goal,” begins Adam Becker. “He hasn’t scored more than six league goals in a season since he was at United, which was a decade ago and feels even longer. I’ve quite enjoyed his resurgence, I was sure Arsenal had managed a steal when getting him for so little (relatively), but it has never really come together for him. Hopefully he’ll keep the form up.”
12 min: Welbeck spins Harwood-Bellis with ease and strides into space down the middle. Downes clips him cynically and quite rightly goes into the book.
11 min: Fernandes rolls a pass down the left touchline for Manning, who creams a sensational low cross through the six-yard box. Had Archer not been on his heels, six yards out and level with the near post, he would surely have scored. But the ball sails on through.
9 min: It’s Walker-Peters’ turn to dither, and that allows Rutter to sashay in from the right, reaching the edge of the D before swivelling and firing a low screamer inches wide of the bottom-right corner. Saints are asking for big trouble here.
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7 min: Archer wins a corner down the right, but from Southampton’s set piece, Brighton break quickly, Pedro chasing a long ball down the middle. Sugawara looks to have the situation under control, but dithers, allowing Pedro to nick in from behind and steal off with the ball. Pedro lashes wide right with Lumley on walkabout. Saints already look like a defensive disaster waiting to happen.
5 min: Saints overplay out of defence for the first, but one would suggest not last, time tonight. Manning’s misplaced backpass is nearly intercepted by Pedro, but Lumley is off his line quickly to smother.
4 min: Brighton finally get a touch after some pinball on the edge of the Saints box. O’Riley attempts to release Welbeck down the inside-right with a cute backheel, but his captain can’t keep the ball in play. Goal kick.
3 min: Sugawara makes good down the right again, this time slipping a pass down the wing for Archer, whose cutback is cleared by O’Riley. Then a third run by the Saints wing-back, Sugawara fizzing a low ball into the arms of Verbruggen.
1 min: Sugawara steams down the right and feeds Dibling on the overlap, but the latter’s cross is easily blocked and bashed clear. A positive start by Saints, though.
Southampton get the ball rolling. Fans of both teams giving it plenty. A rare old roar.
The teams take to the pitch. Brighton in their blue and white stripes, Southampton in third-choice pink. And it’s a weekend of vivid colours all right, because it’s time for Stonewall’s 2024/25 Rainbow Laces campaign, showing support for the LGBT+ community through rainbow-coloured pitch flags, ball plinths, handshake boards, substitute boards, captain’s armbands … and, of course, bootlaces. A fantastic atmosphere, it’s Sussex by the Sea. We’ll be off in a minute.
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Russell Martin’s turn to talk to Sky. “It’s exciting for Joe Lumley … Alex McCarthy played through the pain barrier for us on Sunday, he’d had an injection … I love and admire that about him, because he didn’t have to do that, but he did … the reaction to the game has not been very good, he’s had a very stiff knee this week … so we have to make big decisions … we really trust Joe … it’s an amazing opportunity for him … we have certain principles we want to live by … energy and momentum is really important … when and where we flex and adapt … the feeling and temperature of the game.”
Fabian Hürzeler speaks to Sky Sports. “When you watch our games you see we play in some phases very good, but in some we struggle … the next step is to play consistently for 90 minutes in all phases of the game … today we have another opportunity to prove it … we are in the right direction … the place in the table is confirmation … but the League is so unpredictable … every day is special.”
Pre-match postbag. It’s not exactly teeming over, if we’re being honest, but what we’ve got is a good one.
“I live in Brighton and my daughter is training at Hove Park with the Russell Martin Academy as we speak. On the next pitch is a training session run by them for women in their 40s who never got the chance to play football when they were younger. The academy has also set up a school in the city for children who struggle with conventional education. I hope the fans of his home town give him a decent welcome this evening - he sounds like a genuine good egg” – Tom Atkins
Some more pre-match, indeed pre-weekend, Premier League reading for you.
Both of these clubs featured in today’s edition of Ten Talking Points. Their entries are below, painstakingly curated to save you the trouble of clicking through to the actual article and finding them for yourself. But you should go there anyway, you’ll only be doing yourself out of eight other Points otherwise. Indolence never pays, kids.
After six goals in his first nine league games, Danny Welbeck has quietened down in recent weeks, with João Pedro returning from injury to resume his position as Brighton’s main attacking force. Welbeck’s influence remains, his hold-up play outside the area teeing up two goals against Bournemouth, the captain’s armband on as he leads in the absence of the injured Lewis Dunk. Under Fabian Hürzeler, two years his junior, Welbeck has started every league game this season, which must provide great joy considering the injuries he encountered at Arsenal. A while back, his narrative was of a gifted forward tied up in misfortune, a career that took in trophies and major tournaments but never really advanced past his early-to-mid-20s. Now the central theme is his role as a been-there-done-that battler for Brighton, a key man in their establishment as Premier League mainstays. Taha Hashim
Southampton had only six shots against Liverpool – they have managed more than that in 11 of their 14 previous games in all competitions this season, and at least doubled that number on five occasions. As they continue to play themselves into trouble at the back and remain marooned at the bottom of the table there are not many straws around for them to clutch, but if they could discover a clinical touch it would certainly help. “What was a bit unlucky for them I think is normally they play much better and create much more chances and hardly score,” Arne Slot said. “Today they created few chances and scored two. If they combine these things, so the style of play they had in other games with the effectiveness they had today, then I’m sure they will win some games.” As his team had just demonstrated, if a team can play quite poorly and still score a few goals, they just might be on to something. Simon Burnton
Breaking news … and it’s something which will have some sort of effect, one way or another, on Southampton’s efforts to stay in the Premier League.
Here’s a reminder of how the Premier League table looks heading into the Friday Night Football. Southampton were set a bottom-versus-top clash last Sunday; now they’ve been handed a 20th-versus-fifth-and-potentially-second test. It’s theoretically easier, but not by very much.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 12 | 16 | 31 |
| 2 | Man City | 12 | 5 | 23 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 12 | 9 | 22 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 12 | 9 | 22 |
| 5 | Brighton | 12 | 5 | 22 |
| 6 | Tottenham Hotspur | 12 | 14 | 19 |
| 7 | Nottm Forest | 12 | 2 | 19 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 12 | 0 | 19 |
| 9 | Fulham | 12 | 0 | 18 |
| 10 | Newcastle | 12 | 0 | 18 |
| 11 | Brentford | 12 | 0 | 17 |
| 12 | Man Utd | 12 | 0 | 16 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 12 | -1 | 15 |
| 14 | West Ham | 12 | -4 | 15 |
| 15 | Everton | 12 | -7 | 11 |
| 16 | Leicester | 12 | -8 | 10 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 12 | -8 | 9 |
| 18 | Ipswich | 12 | -10 | 9 |
| 19 | Crystal Palace | 12 | -7 | 8 |
| 20 | Southampton | 12 | -15 | 4 |
Brighton make two changes to their starting XI after the 2-1 win at Bournemouth. Tariq Lamptey returns from injury, with Matt O’Riley stepping up from the bench. Carlos Baleba is suspended after his red card at Dean Court, while Joel Veltman misses out altogether. Lewis Dunk is also back from an injury lay-off, taking a spot on the bench.
Southampton make four changes after their 3-2 home defeat to Liverpool. Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy is dropped and replaced by Premier League debutant Joe Lumley. Ryan Fraser also drops to the bench, while Paul Onouachu and Adam Lallana are injured; Cameron Archer, Yukinari Sugawara and Ryan Manning take their places.
The teams
Brighton & Hove Albion: Verbruggen, Lamptey, van Hecke, Igor, Estupinan, O’Riley, Ayari, Rutter, Joao Pedro, Mitoma, Welbeck.
Subs: Steele, Dunk, Enciso, Adingra, Minteh, Wieffer, Ferguson, McConville, Slater.
Southampton: Lumley, Sugawara, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Stephens, Manning, Dibling, Downes, Fernandes, Armstrong, Archer.
Subs: McCarthy, Aribo, Edwards, Bree, Wood-Gordon, Brereton, Sulemana, Fraser, Amo-Ameyaw.
Referee: Rob Jones
VAR: Jarred Gillett
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Preamble
A score draw will send Brighton & Hove Albion into second place in the Premier League tonight, but even a win wouldn’t lift Southampton off the bottom of the table. Given that Brighton, currently fifth in the league, are unbeaten in five against the Saints, and dispatched champions Manchester City in their last fixture at the Amex, you’d have the hosts down as hot favourites tonight. Which they probably are. But Southampton gave a good account of themselves against table-topping Liverpool last weekend, and if they’re able to maintain that level of performance, a second win of the season would be perfectly possible. So while this south-coast derby isn’t exactly poised delicately, it’s not a total home banker either. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. It’s on!
