Leeds United vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Elland Road is the venue as Leeds United and Brighton & Hove Albion lock horns in a high-stakes Premier League contest.
Despite guiding Leeds United to a 1-0 home win over Southampton on his touchline debut, new manager Javi Garcia has quickly lost his touch, overseeing back-to-back defeats ‘to nil’ against Chelsea and Fulham in the Premier League and FA Cup, respectively. Problems are piling up, with the ‘Whites’ going winless in 11 of their last 12 league outings (D4, L7), a run that leaves them level on points with 18th-placed Everton at the start of this round. It gets worse for the Elland Road faithful, given that Garcia’s men have only won once in their last 12 league meetings with Brighton (D2, L9), going down 1-0 in the reverse fixture in August. Since securing Premier League promotion in 2020, they’ve failed to score in four of their five top-flight H2Hs!
In the meantime, visiting Brighton & Hove Albion have gone from two consecutive winless matches in the Premier League (D1, L1) to back-to-back wins without a replay, including a 4-0 thumping of West Ham United last time out. Roberto De Zerbi’s men head into proceedings on the back of the league’s joint-best ongoing unbeaten away run, having avoided defeat on their last five top-flight travels (W3, D2). Moreover, they’ve been regular on the scoresheet, failing to score only once in their 11 away league matches this season. However, conceding first could summon devils from the past, with the ‘Seagulls’ losing all four Premier League away fixtures after falling behind this term.