Everton v Albion
PREMIER LEAGUE
Venue: Goodison Park
Date: Saturday 17th August 2024
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistants: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long
Fourth Official: Darren Bond
VAR: Darren England
Additional VAR: Sian Massey-Ellis
TEAM NEWS
Everton begin the season with an injury crisis at right-back - captain Seamus Coleman, Nathan Patterson and occasional deputee James Garner have all been ruled out, meaning 39-year-old Ashley Young is set to start.
Forward Youssef Chermiti, who impressed during pre-season, is sidelined after undergoing a minor foot operation, while Jarrad Branthwaite is recovering from groin surgery.
Brighton & Hove Albion are missing a raft of players - Pervis Estupinan, Evan Ferguson, Solly March, Julio Enciso, Bart Verbruggen and Igor Julio are all unavailable.
Club record signing Yankuba Minteh is expected to make his debut alongside fellow new arrival Brajan Gruda.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- There has not been a home win in any of the past seven Premier League meetings since a 4-2 triumph for Everton at Goodison Park in October 2020.
- Brighton took seven points out of nine from their last three away league matches against Everton, having lost each of their first four Premier League visits.
- The team scoring first has never lost this Premier League fixture - although the Toffees squandered 1-0 leads in both games last season to draw 1-1 each time.
- Everton won their final five home matches last season without conceding a goal.
- They can win six consecutive league home games without conceding a goal for the first time since a run of seven from December 1987 to March 1988.
- However, last season Everton lost their first three league fixtures without scoring for the first time in their history.
- The Toffees lost 1-0 at Goodison Park in the opening game of the previous two seasons following a run of 10 successive campaigns in which they were unbeaten on the opening day.
- Everton scored just 40 goals last season, the fewest of any Premier League team other than Sheffield United. Six teams surpassed Everton’s total goals tally solely in home games.
- Only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool let in fewer top-flight goals than Everton’s 51 in 2023-24.
- James Tarkowski is the only player to have featured in every Premier League match in the last two seasons.
- Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler is set to become the youngest permanent manager to take charge of a Premier League match, aged 31 years and 173 days.
- Hürzeler is the first Premier League manager born after the competition started in August 1992.
- Albion were third in the table after winning five of their opening six Premier League matches last season. They went on to finish 11th after winning only seven of their remaining 32 league games.
- Brighton are the only club to win their opening Premier League fixture in each of the past three seasons. They are looking to win their opening league game in four consecutive seasons for the first time.
- The Seagulls won only four of their 19 away league games last season.
- If James Milner features in the Premier League under Hürzeler he will have played under managers born 60 years apart: Bobby Robson (1933) and Hürzeler (1993).
- Milner can make a Premier League appearance in an outright record 23rd season. He is currently tied on 22 alongside Ryan Giggs.
Fabian Hürzeler's Everton Press Conference
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