Cherries Face The Top Scorers In The Premier League

Written by billythekid

The Cherries game against Chelsea was probably our team’s best team performance this season, especially our defence. It was also the first-ever scoreless draw between the two clubs. It’s the first time our team hasn’t conceded a goal since April last season when we won away at Southampton 0-1. That result and performance hopefully show that our team are gradually getting to grips (especially in defence) with how our manager wants the team to play. It will also give our side a good confidence boost going into their next game which is away against free-scoring Brighton, they have scored in every game and three or more goals in four of their five games. The game is on Sunday at 2 pm at the Falmer Stadium.

Brighton since they became members of the Football League have played at four different grounds. The longest time and first was the Goldstone Ground which was their home for just under a hundred years. It was also a ground where you could be behind the goal your team was attacking for the full duration of the game, as you could walk around the inside of the ground and change ends.

After the closure of the Goldstone ground, they ground shared at the home of Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium for a couple of years. They then spent around twelve years back in the Brighton area at the Withdean Stadium, before finally moving into their brand new 30,000-seated Falmer Stadium which has been their home since 2011.

The Brighton Italian manager Roberto De Zerbi after taking over from Graham Potter, has done a great job and in his first season at the club, he saw his side finish in 6th position in the Premier League, the highest ever for the club. This season so far his side is again doing well and is in 5th place after winning four of their five games and are after five games the top scorers in this league with 15 goals.

In their first two games, they won both games 4-1. First at home against Luton Town and then away at Wolves. They lost their next home game 1-3 against West Ham, the team AFCB held to a 1-1 draw at Dean Court two weeks earlier. This was followed with two games and 3-1 wins, the first at home against Newcastle United and then away at Manchester United.

The last time our two sides met at Falmer was in February. The game looked like it could be going to end in a goalless draw, but the Brighton Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma had other ideas, scoring with a headed goal in the 87th minute and that was enough to earn Brighton the three points.

In all our away league games against Brighton, AFCB have W 12, D 15, L 27.
In all competitions, AFCB have W 44, D 29, L 40.

Brighton Team News
Julio Enciso and Jacub Moder are injured. Solly March missed the game in Manchester but should be fit for Sunday. Some players were rested after returning from international duty. They have a Europa League game on Thursday night.

Brighton Player To Watch
Solly March has been a threat for them and has 3 goals in 4 games so far. Their other winger Kauro Mitoma is another threat and has 1 goal and 3 assists in his 5 games. Their young striker Evan Ferguson is their leading scorer with 4 goals which included a hat-trick at home against Newcastle United, that was in 2 starts and 3 coming off the bench. Then they have Pascal Gross and Tarim Lamptey who assisted two of their goals against Manchester United.

AFCB Team News
No new news on injuries and so hopefully we go into the game with a strong squad.

AFCB Player To Watch
Watching their game against Manchester United all three of their goals came from the build-up out wide. So Aarons and Kerkez will need to be shown the form they showed against Chelsea. Up front when Justin Kluivert came on against Chelsea he looked lively and a threat to their defence.

The Referee
John Brooks is the man in charge of this game. Our club had him as a referee on four occasions last season, three at home against Southampton, Liverpool and Chelsea. Also away against Newcastle United in the League Cup.

Your say…

Vlad_The_Impaler said…

A draw would be a great result but they’re a more polished team than us at the moment and in Europe. They are run the best in the world at the moment, sad to say because we were jointly bad with them in L1 for many years.
But I have to credit them because every player they have sold for big money has not affected them, losing Potter didn’t affect them and they got a better manager in RDZ and they keep finding these cheap gems from around the world who all make a difference immediately for them and have a few experienced players like Lallana and Milner to guide the new and younger ones. I rate Mitouma. We will need to play like we did against Chelsea 2nd half to get something. – To join the conversation, click here.