Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal 20/06/20

20 June 2020

Brighton & Hove Albion enter their Premier League (PL) showdown against Arsenal frantically looking over their shoulders, as they sit only two points clear of relegation-threatened Bournemouth.

A goalless 0-0 away draw with Wolverhampton last time out gave Brighton a ninth league game without a win in a row (D6, L3), seven of which have featured under 2.5 goals. At home in the Premier League, the Seagulls are suffering a four-game winless run (D2, L2), and are the league’s fifth-lowest home scorers after notching up only 1.21 goals on average per game. In turn, they’ve netted under 1.5 goals in five of their last six PL home matches, with three of five goals they scored across those fixtures coming inside the final 15 minutes of play. Indeed, the Amex Stadium has not really been a venue of entertainment. Only 21.43% of their PL home games this season have produced over 2.5 goals (3/14).

Meanwhile, the visitors now lament their joint-longest winless away run (D5, L1) of the 2019/20 PL season after succumbing to a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Manchester City last time out. A lack of genuine firepower up front has now seen Arsenal draw a blank in three of their six previous league trips and score precisely once per match in two of the other three. In fact, Mikel Arteta’s men have bagged two or more goals in just four of 14 PL away games this season (28.57%), with 71.43% of their PL away goals scored coming in the second half of play (10/14). Furthermore, the Gunners’ slow away starts have witnessed Arsenal find the opening goal (if any) in just four PL trips.