Brighton vs Sunderland prediction: ENGLAND: Premier League betting tips on match 2025-12-19 15:00.
[p]Looking to recover from a recent slump, Brighton host Sunderland for a first-ever Premier League H2H with the visitors arriving on the back of a stirring derby victory.[/p]
[p]Match News and Current Form[/p]
[p]While the top half of the Premier League remains tightly congested, Brighton’s top-four hopes have been dented by a poorly timed three-match winless run (D1, L2), most recently going down 2-0 at Liverpool last week. The other two of those slip-ups have come at home, but poor results have been a rarity for the Seagulls at home, with only Aston Villa beating them at the AMEX Stadium across their last 16 home league games (W9, D5, L2). Fabian Hürzeler’s men may need all the support they can get here too, given that they’re now winless in nine Premier League games in the month of December (D5, L4).[/p]
[p]Sunderland got in the festive mood a few weeks early as they claimed local bragging rights by beating Newcastle 1-0 in the Wear-Tyne derby. That took the Black Cats to 26 points, the most at this stage by a promoted side since Hull in 2008/09, and that’s despite Régis Le Bris’ men winning just two of their last seven outings (D3, L2). They’re still in contention for the European places regardless, a quest that could be aided by improving on the road where they’ve earned just eight points (W2, D2, L4), scoring just once across their last three such outings (D1, L2).[/p]
[p]Head-to-Head History[/p]
[p]These sides haven’t met in the league since February 2005, while the last H2H in any competition came back in August 2011. Sunderland have won just one of six top-flight games against Brighton (D1, L4).[/p]
[p]Hot Stats and Streaks[/p]
[p]Eleven of Brighton’s last 12 home league games saw both teams score.[/p]
[p]Pre-round, only Villa (15) and Sunderland (12) have earned more points from losing positions in the Premier League this season than Brighton (11).[/p]
[p]Sunderland are unbeaten when opening the scoring in the Premier League this season (W4, D2).[/p]
[p]A league-high 74% of Sunderland’s goals this term have come after half-time.[/p]
[p]Key Players to Watch and Missing Players[/p]
[p]Left out of the starting XI in their last two defeats, Danny Welbeck will be hoping to return to the team here and finally register a Premier League goal involvement against former club Sunderland, having blanked in nine previous attempts. Sunderland stopper Robin Roefs stands in his way, with only one goalkeeper making more saves than his 53 across the opening 16 rounds.[/p]
[p]Lewis Dunk and Diego Gómez miss out through suspension here, while Sunderland have lost the likes of Reinildo Mandava, Noah Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi and Bertrand Traoré to the Africa Cup of Nations.[/p]
[p]For all the latest team news, please check the Flashscore match centre.[/p]
[p]Betting Analysis[/p]
[p]Sunderland are staunch competitors, and given Brighton’s tendency to concede, backing both teams to score appears to make a lot of sense here.[/p]
[p][i]Author: Ryan Fisher[/i][/p]