{"id":12489,"date":"2025-12-26T22:46:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T22:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12489"},"modified":"2025-12-28T12:14:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T12:14:27","slug":"seagulls-to-cull-after-clipping-eagles-wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12489","title":{"rendered":"Seagulls to Cull After Clipping Eagles\u2019 Wings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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October reprise please!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And so to the Stadium of Stone for something of a novelty, a 3pm kickoff on a Saturday, when Brighton rock into town. It will be the first time we have played them at home between Christmas and New Year\u2019s Day \u2014 my late entry for the most useless stat of the year award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton and Hove Albion is a relative parvenu at top-table. We first met 14 of the current Premier League clubs in a Football League game more than a century ago, and three others more than half a century ago. Brighton did not reach the top flight for the first time until 1979, and quickly fell from grace with relegation in 1983. Only Bournemouth (2015) is a more recent ascendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first time Brighton visited Highbury was in November 1979. They were beaten 3-0 thanks to goals from Graham Rix (a thunderbolt that some reports say burst the net), a penalty by Liam Brady and a late strike by Alan Sunderland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the third game of the season between the two sides. The reverse league fixture and a League Cup tie had been played earlier at the Goldstone Ground. In all three games, Brighton failed to score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there is nothing new under the sun, Brighton\u2019s manager, Allan Mullery, claimed that the penalty should never have been awarded (you can take the boy out of Spurs, and all that) and Sunderland pulled his hamstring when stretching to score his goal, putting him out of a forthcoming European Cup Winners Cup tie in Magdeburg that club captain Pat Rice was also set to miss through injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton\u2019s ability to establish itself in the Premier League since returning in 2017 is largely down to some well-timed managerial hirings \u2013 peak Graham Potter and early Roberto De Zerbi \u2014 and a recruitment department that has a gimlet eye for overlooked young talent \u2014 Caicedo, Cucurella, Joao Pedro, MacAllister, Bissouma, Adinga, Undai and Robert Sanchez, for example. They realised a combined \u20ac375 million. To that, add the \u20ac58.5 million we paid for Benny Blanco, topped up by \u20ac24 million for Leandro Trossard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H\u00fcrzeler<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the third season in charge for the 32-year-old Texas-born Swiss-German Fabian H\u00fcrzeler, a coach who has not endeared himself to many fans of other teams. For the Seagulls\u2019 faithful, however, he has led their team to eighth and ninth place finishes, which has only been surpassed once\u2014the sixth place achieved in De Zerbi\u2019s first season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton currently sits ninth, above Everton on goal difference, but as close to 15th as to eighth. Its league record is six wins, six draws and five losses for 24 points, with 25 goals scored and 23 conceded. Their sixth draw came last weekend, a drab 0-0 affair at home to Sunderland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he presents his team sheet as a 4-2-3-1, his system is essentially a conservative version of De Zerbi\u2019s 3-2-4-1. In possession, Brighton builds from the back with a base of three, two midfielders dropping in centrally for the \u2018third-man\u2019 passes, one of the two full-backs pushing high and wide, and two of the attacking midfielders completing the midfield box. Out of possession, Brighton collapses back into a 5-2-3 as soon as their fast press to regain possession fails, providing some protection against swift counterattacks. In his most recent visit to the Emirates, for October\u2019s League Cup tie, H\u00fcrzeler deployed a 5-2-3 from the off, and lost 2-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun fact about H\u00fcrzeler: both his parents are dentists. An unhappy couple; they always look down in the mouth. I\u2019ll get my coat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dutch international Bart Verbruggen is now established as first-choice glove butler ahead of Jason Steele. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immediately ahead of him, the hulking Lewis Dunk, who has been with Brighton since joining its U-12s in 2003, is set to return from a one-match \u2018five-yellows\u2019 suspension. Jan Paul van Hecke has been ill but is likely to be available to be alongside him in the middle of the back line. Either the Mon\u00e9gasque Olivier Boscagli, a summer arrival on a free transfer from PSV, or the young Italy international Diego Coppola, who came in July from Hellas Verona, will fill in, if needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full-backs-cum-wing-backs that are key to H\u00fcrzeler\u2019s system should be Netherlands international Mats Wieffer on the right and the Dutch-born Turkey international Ferdi Kad\u0131o\u011flu on the left. Another Netherlands international, Jan Veltman, and Belgium international Maxim De Cuyper, who arrived in the summer from Club Brugge, will be the fresh legs for those positions, respectively. De Cuyper has also been used further forward on the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The highly rated DM Carlos Baleba will miss the game because he is with the Cameroon national squad at the Africa Cup of Nations. That likely means 22-year-old Yasin Ayari, who has recently nailed down a place in the Sweden side, will join the even younger Worthing-born Jack Hinshelwood in the midfield engine room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since mid-November, the tenacious Hinshelwood has been playing himself back into the team after a ligament injury, before which he was the regular left-back for England\u2019s U-21s, with MLS skipping that rung of the national age group teams to go straight into the senior squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor let us forget James Milner, who will turn 40 on January 4, but still gets minutes off the bench. He is the oldest active player in the Premier League. You are now free to forget him again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attacking midfielders will likely be the speedy 21-year-old Gambian winger Yankuba Minteh and 22-year-old Paraguay international Diego G\u00f3mez, who missed last weekend\u2019s Sunderland game because of a five-yellows suspension, plus one of  21-year-old Brajan Gruda, who has been called up by Germany but not yet capped, 19-year old Tom Watson, who has a couple of England U-21 caps and was bought from Sunderland in the summer for \u20ac12 million, and the comparative veteran, at 28-years old, Japan international Kaoru Mitoma, who has struggled to hold down a starting place this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hnshelwood\u2019s 17-year-old cousin, midfielder Harry Howell, whom H\u00fcrzeler has tagged as a future star, might get a spot on the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tall Frenchman Georginio Rutter is expected to start up front. H\u00fcrzeler is short of attackers. Danny Welbeck, Brighton\u2019s top scorer this term with seven and formerly of this parish, has a lower back injury. He will likely be only fit enough for the bench. Another alum, Amario Cozier-Duberry, who we sold to Brighton in 2024, is on loan at Bolton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is likely too soon for winger Solly March, who has been sidelined with a knee injury, to return, while 19-year-old Stefanos Tzimas, acquired from Nuremberg last February for \u20ac26.5 million, has an ACL injury. Charalampos Kostoulas, a year younger than his fellow Greek but whose promise induced Brighton to pay Olympiacos \u20ac35 million for him in the summer, is being gradually introduced to the rigours of Premier League football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our team against Brighton will more resemble the one that finished the League Cup tie against Palace than the one that started it. Piero Hincapi\u00e9 and Gabriel Martinelli are unlikely to be available due to knocks. Arteta teased Kai Havertz\u2019s potential return, but a spot on the bench for the Villa game seems more likely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timber, Saliba, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard, Zubimendi, Rice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka, Gy\u00f6keres, Trossard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the second consecutive league match, we could be off the top by the time we kick off on Saturday, so this is yet another must-win game. Brighton lost two and drew two of their four most recent games and have not scored in three. On the other side of the ledger, they have lost only three of their eight Premier League visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully, some of the team discovered new shooting boots when they opened their stockings, and the whole team will find some festive fluidity in front of a home crowd. 3-0 to the team in Santa\u2019s colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, \u2018holics, near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so to the Stadium of Stone for something of a novelty, a 3pm kickoff on a Saturday, when Brighton rock into town. It will be the first time we have played them at home between Christmas and New Year\u2019s Day \u2014 my late entry for the most useless stat of the year award. Brighton […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12489"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12495,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12489\/revisions\/12495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}