Leicester finally want to turn the tide

On Sunday, the still winless Foxes travel to Falmer, home to Brighton & Hove Albion. Leicester City desperately need points, as their ambition is certainly not to fight to stay in the league. They narrowly missed out on the international competitions in pre-season and actually wanted to attack the top seven and six places respectively this year. However, the 2016 champions are in last place in the Premier League. That’s why the bookmakers are predicting an advantage for the home team in the Brighton vs Leicester match. Whether Leicester can finally turn the tide, remains to be seen.

Brighton, on the other hand, have had a very successful start to the season. They are the surprise team of the new season and are currently in fourth place in the English top flight. The Seagulls are turning more and more into a team that should and even must be taken more seriously in the fight for Europe. With wins against Manchester United and West Ham United, they showed that they can also annoy the bigger teams.

The season is still young and therefore Foxes supporters should not panic prematurely. With Schmeichel and Fofana, they had to let go of two defensive pillars and these gaps have to be filled first. With Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea FC, they also had a very difficult opening programme. Qualitatively, however, they are certainly capable of getting out of this hole. However, it is doubtful whether this will be the case in the game at Brighton. The Seagulls are deep and leave little room for counterattacks, which is of all things the Foxes’ strength. In the match between Brighton and Leicester, betting on “both teams to score” is very risky at first glance.

Brighton – Statistics & current form

Brighton & Hove Albion are in 4th place in the Premier League with ten points from five games. So the start of the season has been more than successful, especially because of the wins against Manchester United, West Ham United and Leeds. The only draw so far was against the nouveau riche club of Newcastle United, in which they would have deserved a win, however. It was only on the last matchday that they surprisingly suffered their first defeat of the new season against promoted Fulham. But here, too, you have to give Brighton credit for being better players and at least deserving of a point.

No power in Brighton’s attack?

With six goals in five games, Brighton rarely set off offensive fireworks. Nevertheless, they are capable of creating two or three big chances against any opponent. A particular strength of their attacking side is their ability to score from just a few chances. With the departure of Marc Cucurella (Chelsea FC) and Neal Maupay (Everton FC), Brighton lost a lot of quality in the attack. Brighton have not been able to sign any real replacements, and although they have brought in Estupinan as a full-back to replace Cucurella, I have my doubts about his attacking qualities.

Their great strength is clearly their defence, as they have conceded only three goals so far. They have gone three of their five games without conceding a goal, and that against opponents who have quality on the offensive. Defensive stability was already a key factor in Brighton’s good season in pre-season. With the loss of Yves Bissouma (Tottenham), they lost a strong player in central midfield, but so far Enock Mwepu, Alexis MacAllister and Moises Caicedo have compensated for this loss. For the match between Brighton and Leicester, the betting on a Leicester goal is therefore quite high.

Predicted line-up of Brighton:
Sanchez – Estupinan – Webster – Dunk – Veltman – March – Mwepu – Mac Allister – Caicedo – Trossard – Gross

Last Brighton Games:

Premier League
31/08/2022 – Fulham 2 – 1 Brighton

27/08/2022 – Brighton 1 – 0 Leeds

Carabao Cup
25/08/2022 – Forest Green 0 – 3 Brighton

Premier League
21/08/2022 – West Ham 0 – 2 Brighton

13/08/2022 – Brighton 0 – 0 Newcastle

Leicester – Statistics & current form

Leicester City are in an absolute dip in form and yet there is more fuss being made about the Foxes in the media than is necessary. There is no denying that their start to the season has been more than modest. However, it should not be forgotten that they had a really tough opening programme. Now they are in last place in the Premier League with only one point from five games, even though they played some very decent football.  Due to the table constellation, it is not surprising that the odds on an away win in the Brighton vs. Leicester match are enormously high.

Like Brighton, Leicester City have already scored six times this season. Scoring goals is rarely a problem for the Foxes, because with James Maddison, Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy they have three fast and technically strong attacking players in their ranks. Only on the last matchday did they fail to crack Manchester United’s back line. However, 62 goals in pre-season speak for themselves and they have not lost any of their attacking quality this summer. However, as their strength lies in counter-attacking, it will be very uncomfortable for Leicester against Brighton’s style of play.

What’s wrong with Leicester’s defence?

The defensive side is much more problematic as they are currently on eleven goals conceded already. Only Bournemouth conceded more goals, mainly due to the 0:9 defeat against Liverpool. The defensive vulnerability is not new, however, as they already conceded 59 goals in pre-season. The departures of Wesley Fofana (Chelsea FC) and Kasper Schmeichel (OGC Nice) have also weakened the defence. Wout Feas (Stade de Reims) is at least a talented replacement at centre-back, but whether he is ready for the Premier League remains to be seen.

Predicted Leicester line-up:
Ward – Justin – Ndidi – Evans – Thomas – Soumare – Maddison – Tielemans – Dewsbury-Hall – Barnes – Vardy

Last matches played by Leicester:

Premier League
02/09/2022 – Leicester 0 – 1 Manchester United

27/08/2022 – Chelsea FC 2 – 1 Leicester

Carabao Cup
24/08/2022 – Stockport County 1.0 – 0.3 Leicester

Premier League
20/08/2022 – Leicester 1 – 2 Southampton

13/08/2022 – Arsenal FC 4 – 2 Leicester

Brighton – Leicester Direct Comparison / H2H Record

The head-to-head comparison tends to favour Leicester City in the recent past, with the Foxes winning three of the past five duels. Contrary to what the bookmakers’ odds suggest, the direct comparison also favours goals. Currently, there is a series of four games in a row in which both teams have scored. In addition, Brighton have not been able to keep a clean sheet against Leicester City for six games. Against the estimates of the bookmakers, a bet on goals in the Brighton vs Leicester match seems to be quite interesting. Especially when you consider that Leicester haven’t played bad football so far and their opponents have been very ungrateful so far.

Brighton – Leicester Tip

Looking at the facts, the starting position is not as clear as it seems. Brighton are certainly in better form, but lost the last game against Fulham. There they conceded two goals and thus lacked their defensive stability. Leicester are in the bottom of the table, but could have been more rewarded so far if they had been a bit luckier. There is no lack of quality, on the contrary, because Leicester have the overall better squad at their disposal. They will also give everything to turn things around and finally get their first three points of the season.

Both teams have only been without a goal of their own once this season and therefore it is not that unlikely that both teams will score. The direct comparison also speaks for goals on both sides. In the match between Brighton and Leicester, the tip “both teams score” is even quite likely.