Following last weekend’s convincing win over Nottingham Forest, we face a tougher test today in Brighton.
The Seagulls beat Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford in their opening game and have a good record against the Mags at The Amex, being undefeated in our five Premier League meetings on the South Coast.
Records are there to be broken, however, and there’s no reason why we can’t make it back-to-back wins and our first at Brighton since Mo Diame’s fortunate flick found its way in – especially if we play like we did against Forest last Saturday!
With the latest injury news in mind, here’s the starting 11 we expect Eddie Howe to select ahead of today’s 3pm kick off:
(4-3-3): Dubravka – Trippier, Schar, Burn, Targett – Willock, Guimaraes, Joelinton – Almiron, Wilson, Saint-Maximin.
According to Sky Sports’ Keith Downie, Nick Pope is a late injury doubt, meaning Martin Dubravka could now start between the sticks if our summer signing fails a late fitness test.
There’ll be calls for Sven Botman to start. He won’t stay on the bench much longer, but Fabian Schar can’t be dropped after that wondergoal and Dan Burn will keep his place against his former club after putting in another classy performance last weekend.
Sean Longstaff seems unlikely to force his way into this midfield three just yet and Miguel Almiron should continue out wide for now – although we could do with the Paraguayan finding his pre-season form after spurning a few chances against Forest.
How do you see us lining up? Unchanged or do you think Howe will spring a surprise on the South Coast?
Did Nick Pope have a dodgy burger 🍔
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