Wolves v Brighton: Albion to take one step closer to the promised land

Wolves v Brightonghton
Good Friday 14th April, 17:30
Live on Sky Sports 1

Wolves

Wolves suffered their first defeat in seven (W5-D1-L1) last time out as the Old Gold's sequence of five successive victories was halted at Bristol City in a 3-1 reverse. Jon Dadi Bodvarsson grabbed his first goal since August but it served only as a consolation strike in a poor performance.

Manager Paul Lambert was critical of his players' attitude and application post-match, saying his side fell well short of his required standards. The Molineux men certainly appeared to miss the absent Ivan Cavaleiro and £13 million winger Helder Costa at Ashton Gate.

Both are set to return to the fold this weekend but goalkeeper Carl Ikeme is likely to miss out once again. Michal Zyro, Jordan Graham and Silvio have all returned to U23 action but Joe Mason and Connor Ronan are definitely out.

Brighton

Brighton are on the verge of returning to the top-flight of English football for the first time since 1983 after recording a fifth win in six last Friday night at QPR. Sebastian Pocognoli's stunning free-kick and Glenn Murray's 21st goal of the campaign did the business despite a spirited response from the R's.

Albion are now only three wins away from the Premier League with five fixtures left to play in the Championship. An ill Lewis Dunk should have full recovered to take his place at centre-half again but striker Sam Baldock remains absent.

Murray will continue to be partnered by 14-goal Tommer Hemed in attack with Championship player of the year Anthony Knockaert supporting from the flanks and goalkeeper of the year David Stockdale chasing a 20th clean sheet of the campaign between the sticks.

Match Odds

Five of the past six meetings between these two teams at Molineux have ended all-square and a repeat on Good Friday can be backed at 3.45.

Wolves 3.20 have churned out three wins on the spin here and but a W1-D1-L5 record when entertaining the top-10 is off-putting enough to swerve the hosts despite the return of Cavaleiro and Costa.

Brighton 2.44 created a new landmark at Loftus Road, notching a 10th away triumph at this level and the Seagulls have also claimed nine victories in their last 15 away days in the league.

Since the start of last season, Chris Hughton's visitors have W15-D6-L2 at bottom-half clubs, recording 10 clean sheets in the process. It makes the 2.44 big enough to support, especially considering the guests were as short as 2.12 to collect maximum points at QPR just a week ago.

Over/Under 2.5 Goalss

Recent meetings between the two clubs have tended to be low-scoring affairs - five of the past six showdowns have featured fewer than three goals and a repeat of Under 2.5 Goals is available to support at 1.82.

A chunky 14/24 (58%) of the Old Gold's outings under Lambert have beaten the two-goal line suggesting there's value in 2.06 quotes for Over 2.5 Goals but Wolves' return drops to 5/11 (45%) when viewing Molineux only.

Six of Brighton's last nine games have produced Over 2.5 Goals winners, as have 11/23 (48%) of trips to bottom-half teams since the start of 2015/16 but with key defensive players back in tow, I'm happy to swerve the goals markets.

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Back Brighton to win @ 2.44