Seagulls hope to keep Wolves at bay to continue winning streak

by Conor Dunford

Brighton will be hoping to make it three league wins in a row when they take on Wolverhampton Wanderers this Saturday afternoon.

Chris Hughton has guided his side to consecutive league victories for the first time since February, defeating both West Ham and Newcastle 1-0. These results have given the Seagulls some breathing space in Premier League survival race. They are now six points clear of Fulham in 18th place. Whereas opponents Wolves come into this game after a disappointing 2-0 loss at home to Watford.

Brighton have failed to impress so far this season, and have largely gone about thier work quietly, acquiring points to put them into a comfortable midtable position. Glenn Murray continues to drink from the fountain of youth, scoring goals to win vital points for his side so far this term.

The imminent return of Pascal Gross will be a huge boost to the creativity of a Brighton side who have had to rely on Anthony Knockaert and Solly March for that attacking influence.

Wolves will want to recover from that loss to Watford, where they conceded two quickfire goals in a uncharacteristic lapse of concentration from the newly promoted side. Many were expecting Nuno Espírito Santo’s men to make an impact on the Premier League, and they have delivered thus far. With exciting, attacking football, even pushing Manchester United to the brink earlier in the season.

This fixture has been hard fought over the years, although most of the clashes between these sides have occured in the lower divisions. Brighton managed the double over Wolves in their promotion winning season in 2016/17. Wolves have won just two of the last 10 league meetings between these sides, the most recent coming at Brighton in 2016.

The Black Country side will see this as a game they can come out on top of, with the midfield at Wolves disposal, they will look to dominate the centre of the park and control the game from there, utilising the pace of Adama to breakdown that Brighton defence. If they are to buck the trend and win this weekend, they will hope their talisman in midfield Ruben Neves is on fine form, whilst Mexican forward Raul Jiminez will hope to rediscover his goalscoring form from earlier in the season.

Brighton will be relying on that central defensive partnership of Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk to keep the Wolves at bay, and hope the pace of Knockaert and Jose Izquierdo can cause the Wolverhampton defence all kinds of problems.