Saturday's Premier League clash on the south coast between Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton sees Graham Potter take charge of his second home match of the Seagulls.
Potter will be hoping for all three points to extend his positive start in the AmEx dugout, as his new side take on a Southampton team yet to pick up a point this season, having lost to Burnley and Liverpool in the opening fortnight.
Match preview
© Reuters
Graham Potter has enjoyed a positive start to life on the south coast, picking up four points from his opening two games as Brighton & Hove Albion manager.
The Seagulls' decision to sack former boss Chris Hughton was met with derision in certain quarters, but Potter has quietly gone about introducing a more attractive style of play to his Brighton side.
One of the things that the 44-year-old has brought with him from Swansea is his 3-4-2-1 formation, encouraging his centre-backs to pass out from defence, something that was a rarity under his predecessor Hughton.
This change in style has brought about a positive opening fortnight of the season, with an impressive 3-0 victory over Watford followed up by a reasonable 1-1 draw with West Ham United at the Amex.
Southampton, on the other hand, went into this season with a cautious optimism, but have yet to put a point on the board after two games.
Ralph Hasenhuttl did a reasonable job at St Mary's after replacing Mark Hughes last season and also favours deploying a three-at-the-back system. Calamitous errors on the opening day saw the Saints drift to a desperately disappointing 3-0 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor.
This was followed by a tricky assignment against Liverpool. Hasenhuttl has been dubbed 'the Alpine Klopp' by some pundits, but coming up against the real thing proved too difficult as Southampton fell to a 2-1 defeat. It could have been very different though, if ex-Reds striker Danny Ings had buried a very presentable late chance.
The Saints will see this as an important opportunity to put their first points of the new season on the board, especially with a difficult match against Manchester United to come next week ahead of the September international break.
Brighton & Hove Albion form: WD
Southampton form: LL
Team News
© ReutersBrighton will once again be without Jose Izquierdo, who is still struggling with a persistent knee injury.
Seagulls boss Graham Potter will also have to deal with the absences of Yves Bissouma with a shoulder problem and Ezequiel Schelotto who has an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Alex McCarthy could possibly return for Southampton. Fraser Forster, who was the Saints' substitute goalkeeper against Liverpool, has reportedly agreed to return to Celtic on loan for the rest of the season.
Full-back Sam McQueen is still recovering from a nasty cruciate ligament rupture obtained whilst out on loan last season.
Neither side have any suspensions for this match.
Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:
Ryan; Duffy, Dunk, Burn; Montoya, Propper, Stephens, March; Gross, Murray, Trossard
Southampton possible starting lineup:
Gunn; Bednarek, Yoshida, Vestergaard; Valery, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Bertrand; Redmond, Ings, Adams
We say: Brighton & Hove Albion 2-2 Southampton
Brighton have shown encouraging signs of adopting Graham Potter's style of play in their opening two games and have looked far more dangerous going forward. Southampton though, aren't as bad as their early points tally would suggest, and can cause the Seagulls problems of their own with their pacey strikeforce.
No Data Analysis info
