Brighton & Hove Albion vs Valencia 03/08/19

3 August 2019

Brighton & Hove Albion and Valencia will face-off at the Falmer Stadium for a friendly meeting that will see the hosts facing a top-tier rival for the first time this summer.

Brighton will close their preparations with this clash, which will be their second H2H meeting with a none-English team this summer. The Seagulls have pulled off three wins in four summer friendlies (W3, L1), with one of those triumphs seeing Albion beat the Austrian lower-league outfit Liefering 5-2. The two of the remaining three Brighton’s pre-season games have produced over 2.5 goals, with one of them seeing both teams score. Graham Potter’s men have barely managed to dodge the relegation last term, having finished 17th in the 2018-19 Premier League campaign. A run of poor form has seen Brighton fail to pick up a win in the final ten games of last season (D3, L7), with the Seagulls failing to find the net on seven occasions in the process.

Meanwhile, the Bats have started their preparations off on the wrong foot, sustaining a narrow 1-0 loss to AS Monaco, but they’ve managed to bounce back instantly. La Liga giants have clinched back-to-back wins in the build-up to this clash, beating Sion 3-0 and Sporting Lisbon 2-1. Authors of an impressive 2018-19 campaign, the Oranges have secured a top-four finish in La Liga and have outplayed Barcelona 2-1 in the Copa del Rey final in the last game of the season. Interestingly, none of Valencia’s last 18 games has ended in a stalemate (W12, L6), with 12 of those matches producing over 2.5 goals. Also, Valencia’s defensive frailties have seen them concede at least one goal in two of their last 12 outings, although their prolific attack netted 2+ match goals eight times in the same span.