Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Out-of-sorts Brighton & Hove Albion take a must-win trip to Molineux Stadium as they meet resurgent Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

A narrow 1-0 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend halted Wolverhampton’s meteoric rise under Vitor Pereira, knocking them down from a six-game winning streak in the Premier League. With nothing but pride left to play for between now and the end of the season, Wolves will take the field relieved of pressure, yet seeking a way back to the win column. Molineux could form a perfect backdrop, considering they’ve won their last three home league matches – as many as they had managed across their 15 previous such clashes (D2, L10). Indeed, they could post four consecutive home wins in the Premier League for the first time in two years. However, only four of Wolves’ 20 home points this season have come against teams starting this matchday above them (W1, D1, L8), highlighting the scale of the task ahead.

Wolves’ well-documented struggles against higher-ranked opposition must be music to Brighton’s ears as they desperately need three points to secure European qualification in Fabian Hurzeler’s first season in charge. Indeed, the visitors languish a point adrift of the top eight ahead of this round despite only winning once across their last seven league fixtures (D3, L3). Hurzeler must address Brighton’s travel sickness after overseeing back-to-back away league defeats to prevent a further downfall. Encouragingly, Brighton last lost three consecutive top-flight games on the road in May 2021 and head into proceedings on a six-game unbeaten top-flight run against Wolves (W4, D2).