Brighton Hove & Albion Vs Sheffield United
Saturday 21st December 2019 – 15:00 Kick-Off
English Premier League
Pick: Both Teams to Score
Odds: 19/20
Bookmaker: Sportingbet
English Premier League Betting at 22Bet
(All betting odds displayed were correct at the time of writing: 19th December 2019 at 14:20)
Preview: Among the 3PM kick-offs this Saturday, this fixture pits two in-form teams against each other as Brighton host Sheffield United at the Amex Stadium in what will be a first ever meeting between the two clubs in the Premier League.
Brighton Hove & Albion Vs Sheffield United Live Stats & Betting Odds
Brighton Preview – Potters’ positive Seagulls a hit with fans?
The ‘#Potterball’ hashtag was trending on Monday evening, during which time Brighton (13th – W5 D5 L7, GF21 GA25) were in action in the final fixture of last week’s top-flight action. It was trending for good reason. Despite only coming away from Selhurst Park with a point following a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, taking the lead early in the second half only to be denied what would have been a sixth victory of the campaign by a sublime Wilfried Zaha solo effort, it was Graham Potter’s team who dominated proceedings for large periods.
Had The Seagulls held on to their slender lead last time out, it would have been a deserved three points after carving out more than enough scoring opportunities to clinch a win (xG: PAL 0.77 – 2.32 BRI). Unfortunately those attacking endeavours, which have been a frequent sight under their promising new manager this season, weren’t quite rewarded. But it was another promising display from a team that has failed to score only once in the last ten Premier League matches, and is now unbeaten in three (W1 D2).
Forward Neal Maupay netted his third goal in as many matches against Crystal Palace to take his tally in the league to seven – for some context, that is just two fewer than Liverpool pair Mane and Salah. The talented French starlet has been a nuisance for defenders since making the step up from Championship football with Brentford during the summer, where he scored 45 times in 95 appearances, and would open the scoring for his former employers when they hosted Sheffield United last season.
Sheffield United Preview – Undefeated away record on the line again?
Those expecting Sheffield United (7th – W6 D7 L4, GF21 GA16) to run out of steam could be in for a very long wait. A deserved 2-0 victory at Bramall Lane over Aston Villa (xG: SHE 1.79 – 1.13 AST) made it back-to-back league wins for Gary Wilder’s well-oiled team, who had shown resilience in abundance when coming from a goal down to win 2-1 away to Norwich in their previous encounter. The latter result ensuring their excellent away record, in which they are still unbeaten in said matches (W2 D6), remained intact.
Now in seventh position and only four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, can we realistically talk about this team as top-six contenders? On current form it would be doing them a massive disservice to suggest otherwise. Only Leicester and Liverpool possess better defensive numbers (conceding at less than a goal per game and keeping six clean sheets), this whilst retaining their goal threat having scored in 14 of 17 Premier League games thus far. And in seven of eight away from home.
Put simply, there cannot be many tougher opponents in the league at this moment in time. It almost spoke volumes that when United did suffer a rare loss, when losing for the fourth time this season at home to Newcastle United (0-2) earlier in the month, it was greeted as something of an upset. That is the level of respect now being adorned on this group of players, who have picked up some impressive away results already against the likes of Chelsea (2-2), Everton (0-2), Tottenham (1-1) and Wolves (1-1).
Brighton Hove & Albion Vs Sheffield United – Key Facts:
- Brighton, unbeaten in three league games (W1 D2), have scored in nine of the last ten Premier League fixtures.
- Sheffield United are bidding to win for a third consecutive league game and, after eight away outings, are still unbeaten on their travels this season (W2 D6).
- This will be a first encounter between the two clubs since featuring in the 2005-06 Championship: of their six previous meetings, Sheffield United won four (W4 D1 L1).
Betting Summary
There are some tasty Premier League fixtures taking place on the same day, meaning this one won’t feature too highly on people’s attentions. It is an intriguing clash nonetheless.
Brighton (5/4 Unibet) are in reasonable form, with five points taken from the last nine on offer, and play some progressive, entertaining football. Moreover, they score goals more often than not. Similar goes for Sheffield United (5/2 BetVictor), a team that invariably find a way to get on the scoresheet but have been incredibly effective at restricting the amount of damage done in the defensive third of the pitch. The latter are targeting a third consecutive win and are still to lose on their travels since gaining promotion at the end of last season.
Both teams will fancy their chances here, knowing there isn’t a huge discrepancy between either sets of players. Therefore I quite fancy the prospect of a few goals in a fixture which probably doesn’t appear overly attractive on initial inspection. Brighton have scored in nine of the last ten matches while Sheffield United have only failed to notch in one of their previous nine.
