Match Preview: Brighton go to West Brom in the Albion Derby
It is amazing what losing 2-1 to your arch rivals can do to the mind. After Brighton & Hove Albion’s astonishing defeat to Crystal Palace, we have found ourselves asking all kinds of important life questions in the build up to writing this match preview for West Brom away.
What came first, the chicken or the egg? No idea to be honest. Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? There are billions of planets out there, so surely Earth cannot be the only one with the conditions needed for living things to thrive.
What is the best British sitcom of all time? One Foot In The Grave, and I don’t believe (it) anyone who says otherwise. How good is Bet365? That will depend how much is won if Frodon hoses up in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in three weeks time.
And most pertinently, will Brighton find an even more comedic way to fail to win a football match than by losing 2-1 to opponents who only muster two touches in the penalty area? Palace was grim – it surely cannot get any worse at the Hawthorns, can it?
West Bromwich Albion this season
West Brom’s return to the Premier League after a two-year absence has not panned out particularly well so far and barring a minor miracle, they look likely to make an immediate return to the Championship.
What has gone wrong? Ask Baggies fans and they will tell you they probably should not even in the top flight. Since Christmas 2019, their form has not been great and the only reason they ended up promoted was because of their blistering start to the 2019-20 season and Brentford somehow failing to overhaul them.
Those patch results continued into the current campaign, leading to Slaven Bilic paying with his job. West Brom turned to Big Sam Allardyce, their former player and a man who is not averse to drinking a pint of wine in a Chinese restaurant and asked him to try and keep them in the top flight.
Big Sam made some shrewd acquisitions in January and although they have picked up a little – a derby win at Wolves being the highlight – the feeling around the Hawthorns remains that it is too little, too late even for a renowned escape artist like Allardyce to save the Baggies from the drop.
Recent form
West Brom are winless in their last seven since that victory at Molineux, losing four and drawing three. What appears to have been terminal to their survival hopes is that they have faced both Fulham and Sheffield United in that sequence, only drawing with the Cottagers after being beaten by the Blades.
What you can say about the Baggies is that they are not easy to beat. Aside from a 5-0 hammering at the hands of rampant Manchester City, none of those defeats have been heavy. The Allardyce hallmarks of being well organised and defensively solid are there for all to see.
Which could spell bad news for Brighton. It is apparent that the Seagulls are better against sides who want to attack, as victories over Liverpool, Spurs and The Leeds United are testament to.
Up against opponents who park the pass, Graham Potter’s side do not possess the guile to break through – hence why they have failed to beat Palace (twice), Fulham (twice), Burnley (twice), Sheffield United and West Brom already this season.
Brighton v West Bromwich Albion Head-to-Head
Bad match preview news here – Brighton have never won a league game away against West Brom. The Seagulls’ record at the Hawthorns reads played 10, drawn four, lost six.
That feeds into a not-particularly-encouraging overall record of six wins from 25 matches. West Brom have 10 victories to their name whilst there have been nine draws.
And just to round off this cheery section, Brighton have struggled for goals against the Baggies too. Of those 25 matches, the Seagulls have drawn a blank in 12 of them. Bet you cannot wait for 3pm on Saturday now.
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Head-to-Head record with West Bromwich Albion
Last six meetings
• Brighton 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (Premier League, 26/10/20)
• 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)
Right, to balance out all that shite in the last section of the match preview, here is some good news – Brighton did actually win on their previous visit to West Brom.
Obviously it was not a league game, but an FA Cup fourth round replay a little over two years ago. Extra time and Glenn Murray were needed to win the day, the veteran striker climbing off the bench in the 101st minute and scoring twice inside of 13 minutes to secure a 3-1 success. Murray’s first that evening was the only one of his 111 goals to be scored via his penis.
Florin Andone was the other Brighton player on target on an evening when we got to see all sides of the Romanian. Before scoring, he decided to needlessly smash an elbow into the face of Sam Field which earned him a retrospective red card and three game ban.
Team news
There was good and bad news from Graham Potter in his pre-match press conference. The good was that Tariq Lamptey is back in training and might be fit enough to take a place on the bench after over nine weeks out injured.
The bad news was that Adam Webster is unlikely to play again before the end of March. You may recall that after Webster limped off away at Burnley, Potter said the medical team expected him to be back within a week. Unfortunately, it appears as though the ghost of Harold Shipman has again struck at the Albion’s training ground and one week actually means eight.
West Bromwich Albion’s danger men
Sam Johnstone has been outstanding in the West Brom goal and he will surely remain a Premier League player no matter what happens to the Baggies come May.
Interestingly, Brighton were linked with Johnstone around Christmas time when it became clear Maty Ryan was now as popular at the Amex as Matt Hancock at a Nurse’s Convention.
Robert Sanchez’s form since the turn of the year appears to have removed the need for Graham Potter to buy in a Ryan replacement, but if Johnstone were to suddenly become available for a knockdown fee in the event of the Baggies being relegated, then it would be intriguing to see if Brighton show any interest.
The betting value for Brighton v West Bromwich Albion
The only side Brighton have beaten from the bottom half of the Premier League table so far are Newcastle United – and the Toon Army were so woeful that day at St James’ Park that Potter could have taken a chainsaw to each of his players’ strongest leg before kick off and the Seagulls would still have won.
You can back another afternoon of Brighton domination ending in a draw at 13/5. We already know that goals will be in short supply, so why not go even further and stick your money on either a 0-0 or a 1-1, available at 19/2 and 13/2 respectively.
An interesting subplot
Big Sam said earlier in the week that he viewed Brighton as one of the toughest games of the season because the Seagulls would be in the top eight if they had a clinical finisher.
It does not take Hercule Poirot to deduce all that praise means that Allardyce will be planning to shithouse his way to a result. If Brighton are to win, then the players will have to find a way to do something they have not managed so far this season and break down a stubborn defence.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of West Bromwich Albion away
Brighton and West Brom did not meet between 1993 and 2017, meaning that trips to the Hawthorns have been few and far between to supply any memories for this part of our match preview.
In fact, the WAB Team have only done the Baggies away once. The best part of that day out? Discovering an away end that sold actual brandy on the concourse. An incredible, incredible addition to the half time beverage repertoire.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of West Bromwich Albion away
Unfortunately, the rest of that trip to West Brom was an utter shambles. You might remember it. Brighton conceded twice from set pieces as Alan Pardew claimed his first (and only) league win in charge of the Baggies at the 20th (TWENTIETH) attempt. Not even all the brandy in the world could make up for that horror show.
West Bromwich Albion’s most famous fan
Take your pick from Adrian Chiles, Frank Skinner, or the bloke who reads out the travel on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2.
Prediction
Given the way that West Brom are likely to set up and the issue Brighton have with defensive sides that we have talked about A LOT OF TIMES in this match preview, this is actually a much tougher assignment than many Seagulls supporters seem to realise.
A 1-1 draw… and we will try to remember what we just said there before having a meltdown over such a result.
