Brighton & Hove Albion vs Brentford

Amex Stadium is the venue as Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford are set to trade tackles in their second-ever Premier League H2H.

After flirting with the European places in the opening stage of the season, Brighton have suffered a noticeable downfall as they head into proceedings amid a worrying 11-game winless Premier League run (D8, L3). Much of Brighton’s recent domestic struggle has to be pinned on a toothless attack that has failed to find the net five times in their last ten league outings while scoring precisely once in four of the other five. Things don’t look bright for the ‘Seagulls,’ as they’ve gone winless in their last 11 Premier League fixtures on Boxing Day (D4, L7) since defeating QPR 1-0 in 2005/26. But they can draw some confidence from their solid record against newly-promoted sides, having lost just one of their last 12 such Premier League contests (W5, D6).

Seeking revenge for a 1-0 defeat in their first-ever Premier League showdown back in September, Brentford will be looking to improve upon their topsy-turvy form of late. A lack of consistency has seen none of the ‘Bees’ last seven Premier League fixtures produce the same outcome twice in a row (W2, D2, L3), with 71.43% of those matches witnessing over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. Since beating West Ham United 2-1 on the road in October, Thomas Frank’s men have alternated between drawing and losing across their last four Premier League away games (D2, L2), conceding an average of 2.5 goals per match in that period. But despite playing in lower divisions, Brentford have been nothing short of outstanding on Boxing Day over the past decade, losing just one of their last 12 league fixtures on this day (W7, D4).