[Albion] Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[Dick Head]

Wolves v Albion

PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue: Molineux Stadium
Date: Saturday 19th August 2023
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Referee: Andrew Madley
Assistants: James Mainwaring, Nick Hopton
Fourth Official: Dean Whitestone
VAR: Peter Bankes
Additional VAR: Steven Meredith
​

TEAM NEWS

Wolves head coach Gary O'Neil has no fresh injury concerns and could name the same side that impressed in the 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on Monday.

South Korea forward Hwang Hee-chan will hope to replace Pablo Sarabia after his cameo from the bench at Old Trafford.

Roberto de Zerbi is unlikely to make many changes to his Brighton team after their convincing opening-day victory.

Joel Veltman and Evan Ferguson might come into the side, while Adam Webster could be included after a minor issue.

Adam Lallana has recovered from a thigh problem, while Tariq Lamptey is still seeking match fitness following a knee injury.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Wolverhampton Wanderers have won just six of their 38 league matches with Brighton, drawing 14 and losing 18.
• The Seagulls have won three consecutive Premier League games against Wolves, scoring 12 goals in the process.
• Roberto de Zerbi has won both of his managerial encounters with Gary O'Neil, with his Brighton side winning 1-0 at home and 2-0 away against O'Neil's Bournemouth last season.

Wolves

• Wolverhampton have failed to win their first home league game in all five seasons since their return to the top flight in 2018, drawing three and losing two.
• Wolves have lost both of their opening two league matches in only one of the past 19 seasons.
• The Old Gold have won seven of their 10 Premier League home games in 2023 (D1, L2).
• Their shot conversion rate of 7.1% is the lowest of any Premier League side, excluding promoted clubs, since the start of last season - they've scored 31 goals from 435 shots in this time.
• Wolves have failed to score in 45 Premier League fixtures since the start of 2020-21, more than any other side.
• Gary O'Neil's team had 23 attempts on goal with an expected goals total of 2.35 in their 1-0 defeat at Manchester United on Monday.

Albion

• Brighton have won their opening Premier League away game in each of the last four campaigns.
• The Seagulls scored in 18 of their 19 top-flight away fixtures last season, only drawing a blank in a 2-0 defeat at Brentford in October 2022.
• Roberto de Zerbi's side have amassed 65 goals in 33 league games since he took charge in October 2022 - only Manchester City and Arsenal, with 74 and 73 goals respectively, have scored more in that time.
• Joao Pedro and Simon Adingra each scored on debut versus Luton and are seeking to become the first players to find the net in their opening two Premier League games for Brighton.

Roberto De Zerbi's Wolves Press Conference

 

[Mortdecai]

 

[Juan Albion]

I fear the worst in this one. We've been getting too good and need bringing back down to earth. 3-1 Wolves.

 

[Juan Albion]

View attachment 165195View attachment 165196

Fubo is a steaming pile of zaha.

 

[Bozza]

I don’t understand how this happens at 3:00 every Saturday match day, but it’s a fine service.

 

[Marty McFly]

Fubo is a steaming pile of zaha.

Very buggy!

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

First game I could attend this season - soaking up the atmosphere in Dublin Airport - although not that many fans here yet!

 

[Napper]

Wolves performance but lack of points at old Trafford concerns me . They are in a new manager bounce and a win will come . Our cm also concerns me .
I would take a draw today

Come on Albion . Let’s get the away record flying again .

 

[Auckland seagull]

Tough away game, although we always seem to have the hex over Wolves. Our midfield is a work in progress, but I'm hoping our quality up front will see us win this. Words I thought I'd never write.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Here we go then. Another day of checking the specifically named trains are running, beer at breakfast time, betting on which bloke in the home end will watch us more than the game and hoping for any kind of result. Bring it on.

Wolves are much better than most pundits have given them credit for. A tough afternoon awaits

 

[Justice]

We are a good side shame hardly anyone really believes it. Luton apparently was a potential banana skin and now panic is setting in with Wolves who looked like an elite shot shy Potter side. Against Manure they had a billion chances and couldn’t put the ball in the net. They’ve been bashing on about the pen that wasn’t given although that shouldn’t of been a factor if they could score.

 

[Taybha]

The mid West Welsh Seagulls will be there mob handed today,we keep expanding the way we are and I'm going to have to buy a 7 seater,I hope the bloody weather is better than it is here, it's like the day after the end of the world at the moment, sing up block 10.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

This next game could be season-defining.

 

[dstanman]

First away game of the season, looking forward to it

 

[Beach Hut]

So excited

 

[Mr Bridger]

6 pointer.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It's got nil-all written all over it

 

[El Turi]

Wolves looked very strong running through the centre against Man Utd. As we don’t have one single ball winning midfielder in our squad at the moment, I think we’ll struggle with this. We do have a lot of attacking threat though so there should be goals in this.

 

[portslade seagull]

Travelling back from Edinburgh in a minibus so will be listening for updates on the radio and here of course

 

[Eric the meek]

The number of goals that we and Wolves score could define the whole result of this game.