Brighton v West Brom: Seagulls will fly off with win

Brighton v West Brom: Seagulls will fly off with win

Dan Fitch thinks Brighton have played better than their Premier League position indicates and expects them to beat West Brom on Monday...

Brighton 1.78 v West Brom 4.9; The Draw 4.2
Monday 26 October, 18:30
Live on Sky Sports Box Office

Seagulls have not claimed home points that performances deserve

Brighton really need to claim their first home win of the season on Monday evening, when they host promoted West Brom.

After five games, the Seagulls have taken four points from a possible 15. All four of those points came on the road, with Brighton losing both of their home games, albeit against talented opposition in the form of Chelsea and Manchester United.

While Brighton would not necessarily expect positive results from such fixtures, their performances against Chelsea and Manchester United were good enough to have at least claimed a couple of points. Brighton's defence is prone to making avoidable errors, but there is much to admire going forward, with their energetic wing-backs, inventive midfielders and the bustling presence of Neal Maupay in attack.

At a time when Brighton are struggling to keep clean sheets, they could do without the three match suspension of Lewis Dunk, who was sent off in the 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace last weekend. Christian Walton, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Jose Izquierdo, Florin Andone and Danny Welbeck are all injured.

Baggies still without a win

West Brom have yet to win a match since returning to the Premier League and will be targeting the next two games as a chance to correct that statistic.

Though their next two matches are away from home, they are up against the type of opposition in Brighton and Fulham that West Brom must take points from if they are to stand any chance of staying up. So far they have claimed two draws from their five games (L3), both of which came at home.

The two draws were very different games, with WBA coming closest to a win in their 3-3 draw with Chelsea in which they were 3-0 up at half-time. Last week they drew 0-0 at home to Burnley, which was their first clean sheet of the season, but also the second successive game in which they failed to score.

Slaven Bilic has close to a fully fit squad to choose from for this match. Sam Field and Hal Robson-Kanu are the only injured players.

Brighton should take valuable three points

Brighton are the 1.78 favourites, with the draw at 4.2 and a West Brom win at 4.9.

Both sides will be determined to win, but it looks the more realistic proposition for Brighton. Going forward they have more attacking options and have found the net in all five of their Premier League games, scoring at least two in three of those matches.

Brighton's lack of points sees them available at a pretty good price for the home win against opposition seemingly destined for a fight against relegation. Back Brighton's class to tell at 1.78.

Seagulls can't keep clean sheets

As good as Brighton have looked at times this season, they've rarely been comfortable defensively. Brighton have conceded in four of their five games and the absence of Dunk will not help matters.

Both teams to score is 1.83, with over 2.5 goals a slightly bigger price at 1.89. The latter probably makes the most sense, when you remember the way Brighton controlled their game against Newcastle, in their sole victory (3-0) this season.