Hughton & Albion set to get back to winning ways at Cardiff?
Three back-to-back one-goal-to-nil victories – pure exhilaration, confidence, a sense of belief. Then, a snappish reality check, a harsh 3-1 loss to Everton at Goodison – pure disappointment, a lack of certainty, a sense of disbelief.
It was indeed difficult for Brighton supporters last weekend after their club’s fantastic run of form came to an abrupt end against Everton. The Toffees were simply too good for them – Richarlison’s pace and flair, Coleman & Digne causing major problems on the overlap, and on the day not a good enough performance from the Seagulls to realistically even hope of victory. Gaetan Bong was lacklustre, making mistakes, as was Lewis Dunk, who, incidentally has just been awarded his second England call-up. The front three of Murray, Izquierdo and Jahanbakhsh simply weren’t provided with the service they required to cause problems on Saturday afternoon. Jahanbakhsh himself had to drop deeper to gain possession and still couldn’t create any goal-scoring chances for Brighton. In fact, the only goal of the game for Hughton’s side came through a set-piece, though not directly, as Solly March came short to a Jahanbakhsh corner, crossing in beautifully for Lewis Dunk to score his second Premier League goal. A positive, at last, Albion supporters must have truly felt in the away end of Goodison. “Not good enough” was repeated. “We can’t even create a chance” was a phrase discussed by many before Dunk headed home. With the first half coming to a close with the score-line at 1-1, it was all still to play for, however, early into the second half, Seamus Coleman struck a sweetly-timed shot into the bottom left-hand corner giving keeper Mat Ryan a near on impossible task to stop it. It went in. It was emphatic. Everton had regained their lead, and from that moment on, their momentum carried them through until the end, with a further goal coming from Richarlison once more.
“It wasn’t good enough” – yes, Brighton supporters, you’re correct there. “We can’t even create a chance” – there, too, I would say you are somewhat spot-on with your statement. It wasn’t a good enough performance from Hughton’s players to say the least, however, when considering the circumstances, you can’t be that surprised. Everton are a potential top eight side, they have one of the most in form players in the league – Richarlison – and also, the transfer fees flying in and out of Goodison Park are staggering. Brighton would be expected to struggle to even compete, but arguably, they still did. They scored a goal and created the odd chance. Not enough of them at that, however, I feel as if Albion’s form was eventually going to come to an end. As I wrote at the start, it was a reality check.
Now, Hughton will look to move on, thinking about his team selections and match tactics one match a time to try and utilise all the opportunities he possibly has to gain some more invaluable points for his team. The start of his attempt to regain momentum is with a trip to Wales.
Brighton & Hove Albion will face Cardiff City, a team who are currently in a spot of bother in 19thposition in the Premier League table. With just one win at this stage of the season (coming in a 4-2 home victory against Fulham), they have been uninspiring to say the least. Some performances have been simply monotonous, as implied by the league-low pass count of 2900 (approximately 263 per match). The closest team to Cardiff in this statistic is Brighton themselves who have only managed to put together 3,478 successful passes, which is roughly 316 per fixture. Despite Brighton making a few-hundred more passes, they rank bottom of the table when considering the amount of shots taken, with just 86. The Bluebirds have had a reasonably impressive 121, however, their inability to be clinical with these shots has led to only 9 goals being scored, 3 less than Brighton’s 12.
Cardiff City will be without key player Harry Arter on Saturday afternoon after the Irishman picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Leicester City, whilst trio Jazz Richards, Kenneth Zohore and Lee Peltier are still unavailable due to injury. Zohore and Arter will be missed and could make their chances of scoring even more difficult than first thought.
The visitors, Brighton, won’t be able to select Pascal Groß or Davy Pröpper for their trip to Cardiff due to their ongoing recoveries from ankle injuries. Chris Hughton has also emphasised that key man Alireza Jahanbakhsh is a doubt for the fixture after picking up a “slight” hamstring strain in training. The Irish manager also confirmed that David Button will be unavailable for selection as a backup goalkeeper due to a knock.
Cardiff and Brighton have never played against each other in the top-flight of English football and as a result this becomes the fourth new top-flight fixture that has been played this season (the others being Bournemouth vs Cardiff, Brighton vs Fulham and Bournemouth vs Fulham). Brighton do struggle in fixtures away from home, only winning once in their last 19 matches in which they’ve travelled away from the Amex, thus, this fixture may begin in Cardiff’s favour. The Bluebirds have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 8 Premier League matches, though, losing seven, so in all honesty, this for sure counteracts Brighton’s poor away record.
In the five previous meetings between managers Neil Warnock and Chris Hughton, four have gone in Hughton’s favour with one ending in a draw. Interestingly, Hughton has an impressive statistic of keeping clean sheets in all of these meetings.
So, with the injury news fairly balanced, with both teams struggling to pass or shoot for a matter of fact, and both sides desperate for more points on the board to help their bid for Premier League survival, this fixture should be interesting to watch. Two defensively minded managers face off on Saturday afternoon but if goals are scored, I can only see there being one winner. Brace yourselves. It’s going to be an exciting ride.
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