Match Preview: Boycott PPV for Brighton v West Bromwich Albion
Well, this is a first. A WeAreBrighton.com match preview in which we actively encourage supporters not to watch the game on television as Brighton & Hove Albion host West Bromwich Albion.
Fans of Premier League clubs across the country have been raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for their local foodbanks by donating the £15 that Sky Sports, BT Sport and the Premier League thought they could charge to watch matches on a PPV basis.
Brighton fans have been encouraged to do the same by giving their money to the Brighton Foodbank or their local foodbank instead. Rather than the rich getting richer and thinking they can take the piss out of supporters forever more, struggling people in society are instead being fed and kept warm. It’s the polar opposite of the greed and gluttony of top flight football in England.
If you can afford to donate, then here is the link for the Brighton Foodbank. You can then either hunt down a stream or listen on BBC Radio Sussex to a game in which Brighton need to start turning possession and dominance into points.
Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. It’s time to stand up to the Premier League and its broadcasters and say enough is enough. Please boycott PPV.
West Bromwich Albion this season
Stepping up from the Championship to the Premier League seems to get harder every season, but the three promoted clubs for 2020-21 have a particularly tough job on their hands.
The condensed summer and pre-season period meant that they hardly received any rest after a gruelling 46 Championship season. It also significantly cut the amount of time that there was for them to source and sign improvements ahead of the new Premier League season.
It is little surprise then that West Bromwich Albion will come to the Amex winless so far. In a sign of how desperately Brighton could do with three points themselves, if the Baggies were to get the monkey off their back and pick up victory in Sussex then they would leapfrog the Seagulls in the table.
Recent form
There have been signs that despite the challenges that this strangest of off-seasons has brought, West Brom might have enough about them to survive.
They took advantage of Chelsea’s terrible defence in a way in which Brighton could not to draw 3-3 with the Blues at the Hawthorns. They also ground out a 0-0 draw at home to Burnley, giving them the two points that they have on the board.
Whilst the Hawthorns could be a difficult place to go for teams in 2020-21 based on those two results, West Brom have lost two from two on the road in the Premier League so far.
Brighton really need to make that three from three, otherwise Graham Potter and the players could find themselves dragged into the early season relegation fight.
Brighton v West Bromwich Albion Head-to-Head
West Brom have always been one of those teams that Brighton seem to avoid. Whenever we are promoted, they tend to get relegated or vice versa so meetings over the past 119 years have been few and far between.
This is a shame for supporters as the Hawthorns is the only ground in the country we have come across in which the away end sells brandy. In general football terms, this lack of action is probably a good thing from a Brighton point of view as we struggle for goals against the Baggies.
There have been 24 matches between Brighton and West Brom to date and the Seagulls have failed to net in 12 of them. There is consolation to be had from the fact that this game is taking place at the Amex as Brighton have an atrocious record at West Brom, winning on just two occasions out of 12 and drawing a blank in seven of them.
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Head-to-Head record with West Bromwich Albion
Last six meetings
• West Bromwich Albion 1-3 Brighton (FA Cup Fourth Round Replay, 06/02/19)
• Brighton 0-0 West Bromwich Albion (FA Cup Fourth Round, 26/01/19)
• West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Brighton (Premier League, 13/01/18)
• Brighton 3-1 West Bromwich Albion (Premier League, 09/09/17)
• West Bromwich Albion 3-1 Brighton (Division Two, 03/04/93)
• Brighton 3-1 West Bromwich Albion (Division Two, 10/03/93)
The past six meetings have been a bit of a mixed bag for Brighton against West Brom. The previous Premier League match was a complete debacle as Chris Hughton’s side lost 2-0 to a Baggies outfit who had been waiting 20 matches since September to record their first win under Alan Pardew with both goals coming from free headers from set pieces. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it…
Then there was the FA Cup clash 18 months ago when Glenn Murray came off the bench to save the Seagulls’ bacon by scoring with his schlong.
Florin Andone picked up a retrospective three game ban for smashing his elbow into the face of a West Brom player off-the-ball, the first real sign that Brighton had signed a complete nutcase who would turn out to be a real liability in terms of discipline.
There has been one other meeting not listed here which came in September when Brighton and West Brom played out a 0-0 friendly draw at the Amex. If this match is anything like as mind numbingly boring as that one was, then Brighton fans boycotting PPV won’t be missing out on much.
Team news
No Brighton v West Bromwich Albion preview can skate over the fact that Lewis Dunk is serving a three match ban for his attempted GBH on Gary Cahill last week. How does Potter cover for the absence of his star defender and captain?
The logical move would be to drop Ben White back from the midfield role he fulfilled at Crystal Palace and bring Steve Alzate back into the starting line up.
Logic and Potter go together about as well as taking a vegan to a hog roast, however. So who knows what will happen? He could abandon 3-4-1-2 in favour of a flat back four now that there is no need to try and cram as many centre backs as possible into one team. Or he might just come up with a whacky plan which involves starting seven central midfielders or three right wingers.
And where does Danny Welbeck fit in? Brighton’s new signing will surely not be fit enough to start against the Baggies, but if the Seagulls are up to their normal tricks of taking 20 shots but putting only three of them on target, then Welbeck must appear at some point to try and improve that terrible conversion rate.
West Bromwich Albion’s danger men
Irish striker Callum Robinson has two goals in five Premier League appearances for the Baggies so far. West Bromwich Albion also possess a striker whose name we have to flag up in every match preview whenever he takes on Brighton – Charlie Austin.
Austin has a sensational scoring record against the Seagulls, having notched in League One, the Championship and the League Cup for Swindon Town, Burnley, Queens Park Rangers and Southampton.
A goal for West Brom in the Premier League would allow him to add another club and competition to that impressive list. Thankfully, he has hardly featured under Slaven Bilic in the league so far this season. Let’s hope it stays that way, otherwise we all know what will happen.
The betting value for Brighton v West Bromwich Albion
As already noted in our match preview, Brighton v West Bromwich Albion is hardly known for being a goal fest. That makes the goals market appealing for this one, with both teams to score no at 23/20 and under 2.5 goals at 11/10 looking like value bets.
An interesting subplot
Remember back in lockdown when Brighton were attempting to trademark the 2,600-year-old word Albion to “protect supporters”? A meeting between Brighton & Hove Albion and West Bromwich Albion just serves to highlight the lunacy of it all.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of West Bromwich Albion at home
The infrequency of matches with West Bromwich Albion means that the WeAreBrighton.com team are only old enough to have seen us play the Baggies twice at home.
The September 2017 meeting was therefore pretty special as the Seagulls picked up their maiden win in the Premier League following promotion.
Two goals from Pascal Gross and one from Tomer Hemed secured a 3-1 success, although we shamefully missed Gross’ opener as it came whilst we were sipping on a half time beer and wine. Sometimes, the desperation for a drink really does get in the way of important moments, like your club’s first top flight goal for 34 years.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of West Bromwich Albion at home
January 2019’s FA Cup Fourth Round meeting was so boring that you would rather have sat through a root canal. It finished 0-0 – another encouraging sign that those of us who are shunning the game on PPV TV are not going to miss out on much.
West Bromwich Albion’s most famous fan
West Brom actually have two famous fans in Frank Skinner and Adrian Chiles. Which one of those do you pick? It’s tough, but it would probably have to be Frank as Adrian seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth in the past few years.
A remarkable fall from grace for a man who a decade ago had to fend off rumours of a relationship with the lovely Christine Bleakley.
Prediction
The head says that a Brighton v West Bromwich Albion match preview should end with a prediction of a typically dull 0-0 draw; the heart says it is about time we put an opponent to the sword at the Amex and a 3-0 Brighton win.
To be honest, I don’t really care though – the most important thing is that Sky have dismal viewing figures and that hungry people across Sussex get fed.
If you can afford to do so, please boycott PPV and support your local Foodbank instead. Here’s that link again for the Brighton Foodbank.
