Brentford meet Brighton in a crucial Premier League clash in the race for European qualification.
Victory will see Brentford stay 11th in the table but move to within two points of tenth-placed Brighton, whilst Fabian Hürzeler’s Seagulls can climb to eighth if better Bournemouth’s result at Crystal Palace.
Team News
Brentford have no fresh injury concerns to report coming into this match after their 1-1 draw at Arsenal.
Josh Dasilva (knee), Fabio Carvalho (shoulder), Igor Thiago (joint) and Aaron Hickey (hamstring) remain ruled out.
Brighton will welcome Jan Paul van Hecke back into contention after the defender was suspended for their 2-2 draw against Leicester.
Kaoru Mitoma (heel) could return if fit.
Jason Steele (shoulder), Joel Veltman (foot), Tariq Lamptey, Georginio Rutter (both ankle), Ferdi Kadioglu (toe), Adam Webster, Igor Julio and James Milner (all hamstring) remain sidelined.
When is Kick-Off?
Brentford host Brighton at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday 19 April at 3pm BST, untelevised live in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Brentford have lost just one of their last five meetings against Brighton (W1, D3, L1).
- Brighton have lost just one of their three previous Premier League visits to Brentford (W1, D1, L1).
- Thomas Frank’s Bees have never kept three consecutive clean sheets against Brighton in all competitions.
- Brentford’s last four bookings at home have been awarded to defenders – Nathan Collins picked up two yellow cards in separate matches, whilst Kristoffer Ajer and Sepp Van den Berg were both booked once.
- Brighton have avoided defeat in five of nine previous Premier League visits to London-based opposition during the month of April (W3, D2, L4).
Prediction
With a five-point gap to Brighton, Brentford really need to raise their game because this is must-win if want an unlikely late charge towards a potential UEFA Conference League qualification spot and be more clinical than they were at Arsenal where a counter-attack exposed their defensive high press.
Brighton certainly should of beaten Leicester given the quality contrast so to take the lead and concede twice against the Foxes was disappointing, but they were often wasteful in open play whilst their marking was simply sloppy so a more organised and composed display will be needed here.
Neither team though are in consistent form and my instinct is that this could well result in another scrappy draw but this time with goals.
Prediction: Brentford 1-1 Brighton
