I've done it early, so what? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- please log in to view this image Vs please log in to view this image please log in to view this image (Early) Team News: Saints: Nigel Adkins has no new injury worries after the international break, with his squad all having the 2 weeks rest available. An unchanged team is expected to be named, with the only change possibly coming in CM, where captain Dean Hammond could replace either Morgan Schneiderlin or Jack Cork. Brighton: Summer signing Vicente should return from injury after missing Albion's last 4 games. Gus Poyet has stated that the trio of Vicente, Will Hoskins and on loan Gonzalo Jara Reyes should be back for the St Mary's trip, despite the latter being called up for international duty with Chile, and is set to play Tuesday against Uruguay. Assistant Manager Mauricio Taricco should drop to the bench if left-back Marcos Painter returns (Knee). Last Result: Saints: 4-2 WIN Vs Coventry (Away) Brighton: 2-0 WIN Vs Barnsley (Home) Predicted Saints Team: -----------------------------------Davis------------------------------------------- ---Richardson------------Fonte-----------Hooiveld--------------------------Fox---- ---Chaplow-------------Schneiderlin-------Hammond(C)-------------------Lallana--- -------------------------Guly-----------Lambert----------------------------------- Subs: Bart, Martin, Cork, Connolly, De Ridder. - Hard to drop Cork but I think Nigel will bring Deano back in. Prediction: 2-1 Saints.It won't be easy by any means and Brighton will be up for what is probably their biggest game of the season so far (minus Palace) but we're at home, and if we start well like we have nearly all season, I can see us getting a nice lead early on in this game. Brighton to get back into the game with a Mackail-Smith goal. Guly & Lallana the Saints goalscorers. Nervous finish but we hold on to grab a good 3 points and Poyet's face says a thousand words. COYR!
The team I would pick would be: Davis, Richardson, Fonte, Hooiveld, Fox, Chaplow, Hammond, Cork, Lallana, Lambert, Guly. SUBS: Bialkowski, Harding, Schneiderlin, De Ridder, Connolly
Swap Harding for Martin on the bench (I'm never comfortable with no CBs on the bench - and besides, putting Martin on the bench is what Adkins has been doing himself recently), and I'd agree with you.
Local derby, just had a break so not really in a great amount of form at the moment... Going to be pessimistic and say 1-1
So long as Schneiderlin plays i will be happy. Id be over the moon if it stays Schneiderlin and Cork in the middle though !
Crazy stat: number of goals scored in the first half of Brighton away games, by either team...two, both by Brighton, both in August (their first two away games of the year, in fact). No home team has scored a first half goal against Brighton all year, and their last six away games have been 0-0 going into the half. So, the goal is clear: find a way through the eleven men that they'll keep back for the entirety of the first half and we'd force them to open things up a little, at which point it could turn into a romp. I'm going to say 2-0, though, with Brighton keeping it scoreless through halftime yet again. Winner to Guly, late clincher to Lambert.
I hate playing Brighton can remember all too clearly losing two nil at home in 1981 when we needed to win to go top of the league. We were massive odds on favourites but blew it. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen this time.
Annoyingly, I'll be missing this one. Bizarrely, the last home league game that I missed was also Brighton (the 3-1 defeat two years ago, in Poyet's first game). At least I managed to catch that one on TV though.
I would suggest that if you want to go to this match and haven't bought a ticket yet, do so now! Saints website says tickets sold is approaching 30,000!
