Preview: Brighton & Hove Albion vs. Arsenal – team news, lineups, prediction, live stream

Roberto De Zerbi had warned Brighton’s latest foes to be wary of an “angry” Seagulls XI following their EFL Cup exit at the hands of League One side Charlton Athletic, but by reverting to type in the Premier League, this weekend’s hosts remain in European contention in seventh place in the table.

Nevertheless, Brighton’s defensive resilience at the Amex is well and truly alive – conceding a mere six goals in Premier League home matches during the 2022-23 season so far – and the Seagulls have established a reputation as Arsenal’s bogey team in recent years.

The naysayers will point out the fact that Arsenal still have two fixtures against Man City to come, but every other side to hit 40 points after their first 15 Premier League matches of the season has gone on to win the title, and the World Cup break does not appear to have disrupted the runaway leaders’ momentum.

Arsenal travel to the Amex having picked up 13 points from the last 15 on offer away from home – conceding a mere one goal in that hot streak – but Brighton overcame a weakened Gunners side 3-1 in the EFL Cup just last month and have only ever suffered one Premier League defeat to the capital club in front of the Amex faithful.

While De Zerbi was left relatively pleased with his side’s performance against Southampton, the Brighton boss expressed frustration at the yellow card to Moises Caicedo, who is now suspended for this match after picking up five bookings this season.

Argentina’s World Cup hero Alexis Mac Allister is not due back until the New Year, and De Zerbi is not optimistic about Adam Webster’s chances of being available for Saturday, but ex-Arsenal man Danny Welbeck could recover from a muscular issue in time for a Gunners reunion.

A first Premier League start of the season should come the way of Billy Gilmour in place of the suspended Caicedo, although Jeremy Sarmiento impressed in EFL Cup action against the Gunners and will pine for another chance to strut his stuff against the North Londoners.

Martin Odegaard produced a man-of-the-match performance against West Ham and is now aiming to score two or more goals in a Premier League away game for the third time this season – joining an exclusive crowd of Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp, Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie and Alexis Sanchez to have done so previously for Arsenal.