Match Preview: Brighton look to build on their impressive Wolves record
New year, new me. Having seen the sentiment expressed a million times on social media over the past 48 hours, as we write our first match preview of 2021 with Brighton hosting Wolves at the Amex, let us hope it is the case for the Albion too as 2020 was ghastly on all kinds of accounts.
Nobody needs to be reminded about the unwanted records that Graham Potter managed to set over the previous 366 days of the 21st century. So let us instead focus on the positives – as Graham would want – and there is a lot of good news to be had when it comes to the prospect of Wolverhampton Wanderers visiting Sussex.
For Brighton could not have asked for a more friendly fixture to start the new calendar year. Historically, Wolves have been a very good opponent to the Seagulls to the point that supporters of the Old Gold have long considered the Albion to be their bogey side.
What better way would there be to start 2021 than by extending that impressive record against Wolves with a first home win of the season?
Wolves this season
Wolves have taken to the Premier League like a duck to water since winning the Championship title in 2018, recording two top seven finishes in that time and enjoying a memorable run to the knockout stages of the Europa League last season.
2020-21 is proving to be a little more challenging for Nuno and his players, however. They sold some key players in the summer, such as Diogo Jota to Liverpool and Matt Doherty to Tottenham Hotspur and have suffered badly from injuries for the first time of their current top flight spell, with the likes of Jonny, Raul Jimenez and Willy Bolly all barely featuring so far.
Jimenez’s absence has proven to be particularly damaging. Wolves were heavily reliant on his goals last season and without him, they have managed to score just 15 times so far – three less than the Albion.
Finding a centre forward in the January transfer window looks paramount to Wolves’ chances of getting themselves back in the mix for Europe.
If Nuno is not able to bring in reinforcements in the next month, then the Old Gold might well have to settle for mid table mediocrity and a transitional campaign.
Recent form
Wolves are in the midst of one of their worst runs under Nuno having recorded only one win from their past six matches. That was a 2-1 success over Chelsea in the same midweek round of games when the Albion were drawing 0-0 at Fulham.
In fairness to Wolves, they have faced a tricky run of fixtures. Liverpool, Spurs and Manchester United accounted for three of those games, Aston Villa had both the local derby element and the fact that Villa are flying to excuse defeat and Burnley are in resurgent form as we well know having seen them overtake us in the scrap at the bottom of the table.
With Brighton not having won since mid November, this is a meeting between two sides who have found themselves struggling for points over the past six weeks or so. Good luck to the marketing bods at Sky Sports trying to get neutrals to tune in to this one, especially with it likely to overlap with The Masked Singer at 7pm on ITV.
Brighton v Wolves head-to-head
This is the part of the match preview we always look forward to writing for Brighton v Wolves. There have been 34 previous meetings between the clubs with the Albion winning 15, 13 draws and just six victories for the Old Gold.
It took Wolves 14 attempts to register a first league win against the Albion and in 10 top flight clashes so far, Brighton have never been beaten, winning seven and drawing three.
You have to go back to New Year’s Day 2016 to find the last Wolves win over Brighton. It finished 1-0 to the visitors and in many ways resembled the sort of thing you see at Waterhall on a Sunday morning with James Wilson throwing up on the pitch before the game and the Albion scoring a comedy own goal through Connor Goldson.
Brighton’s head-to-head record with Wolverhampton Wanderers
Last six meetings
• Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Brighton (Premier League, 07/03/20)
• Brighton 2-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Premier League, 08/12/19)
• Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-0 Brighton (Premier League, 20/04/19)
• Brighton 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Premier League, 27/10/18)
• Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Brighton (Championship, 14/04/17)
• Brighton 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Championship, 18/09/16)
The last three meetings have all ended in draws, including a couple of dull stalemates at Molineux. The March match was the last time either club played in front of a full stadium with lockdown following a week after the Albion had gone to Wolverhampton and frustrated their hosts who were chasing Champions League qualification at the time.
Both sides scoring when Brighton meet Wolves is a pretty rare occurrence. It has only happened once in the previous eight matches, the 2-2 draw at the Amex in December 2019 when all the goals came in a blistering first half of football.
Team news
We are seriously considering binning off this section of our match preview – who in their right mind would want to predict what Potter is going to do against Wolves after that mess of a Brighton starting line up he named against Arsenal?
No centre forwards in a winnable home game was bordering on criminal. It should at least mean that whoever of Neal Maupay, Danny Welbeck or Aaron Connolly is chosen to lead the line will be well rested having sat on the bench watching Alexis Mac Allister and Alireza Jahanbakhsh carry out a thankless task out-of-position on Wednesday night.
With no Tariq Lamptey, one thing we would like to see Potter do is ditch 3-4-1-2. It is a formation which only works when you have two high-class attacking full backs.
Whilst Lamptey is out injured, Potter has instead used either Joel Veltman or Ben White there – two central defenders who are ill-equipped to offer the sort of threat that you need from your wide players in such a formation. The one time you could actually find justification for the Tinkerman tinkering and he remains steadfastly devoted to his back three.
Wolves’ key players
Captain Conor Coady managed to do what Lewis Dunk has not and make the breakthrough to become an England squad regular despite playing for an unfashionable club.
That is a very good thing too as Coady has been a breath of fresh air since his debut and unless your name is Gareth and you were born in Crawley, then you can quite clearly see that he is the best centre back available to the Three Lions at the moment.
A special mention too for Rui Patricio. Not only is the Portuguese number one an excellent goalkeeper, but he also wears the squad number 11 which is exactly the sort of nonsense we love here at WAB Towers.
If the rumours are true and Brighton are considering a January move for Sergio Romero from Manchester United, then hopefully he ends up with a ridiculous number of his own. Connolly giving up number seven for a new goalkeeper would be the best thing the Irish striker has done all season, for example.
The betting value for Brighton v Wolves
Look at the last six results which we noted earlier in our match preview and you can spot some useful trends for Brighton v Wolves. History suggests that the Albion are not going to lose and that at least one team will be walking away with a clean sheet – and that is before you consider the fact that both sides are about as useful as a chocolate teapot in front of goal currently.
The draw is a best priced 9/4, both teams to score no can be found for 11/13 and if you are feeling like it is going to be particularly dull, then under 1.5 goals is 15/8.
An interesting subplot
Okay, we know we said we would not mention those unwanted records which Brighton set under Potter last year. But if the Albion do manage to beat Wolves, then they will have won as many home games in 48 hours of 2021 as they managed in 366 days of 2020.
A good WeAreBrighton.com memory of Wolves at home
When Wolves were beaten 1-0 at the Amex in October 2018, everything seemed right in the world. Glenn Murray notched his 100th goal in Albion colours, becoming only the second player after Tommy Cook to achieve the feat.
Maty Ryan kept a third consecutive clean sheet which helped earn him the PFA Premier League Player of the Month award, the only Brighton player to ever win such an accolade.
And the victory meant that the Albion had won three Premier League matches in a row, the only time they have achieved the feat in their current spell as a top flight club. Seems a bloody lifetime ago now.
A bad WeAreBrighton.com memory of Wolves at home
It has already received an airing, but the 1-0 home defeat to Wolves on New Year’s Day 2016 was disgusting. Lunchtime kick offs on the day after New Year’s Eve should be made illegal.
Wolves’ most famous fan
He may not be a famous fan, but we have always had a soft spot for Wolves’ mascot, Wolfie. How could you not love a seven foot tall wolf who once managed to get in a genuine half time fight on the pitch with three little pigs away at Bristol City?
Prediction
We will kick off 2021 with a positive match preview prediction – Brighton 1-0 Wolves.
