IntroductionAs we all know, The Valley celebrated its 20 year anniversary last Wednesday and a lot has happened in those 20 years since Colin Walsh’s famous goal and Darren Pitcher’s less famous assist. In the last 20 years we have seen joy, pride, desire, despair, tears and moments we will never forget.
Amongst the despair, Alan Pardew (not the messiah, just a very naughty boy) contributed to our downfall to League One where we experienced one of our worst-ever results of recent time, a 4-0 home defeat to Saturday’s opponents Brighton. But a lot has changed since then, so let’s hope for a much more positive result to celebrate 20 years at the Valley.
The Opposition
Since his arrival at Brighton in 2009, Gus Poyet has transformed the club into a much bigger threat (as we found out in League One) and Poyet managed to get the Seagulls promoted to the Championship in 2011.
The ‘Gus Bus’ progressed even further with the additions of some Spanish flair in the shape of ex-Valencia star Vicente to help push the club’s ambitions of achieving promotion to the Premier League for the first time. However, last season they just missed out on a play-off place, something that Poyet doesn’t want to happen again this year.
Last weekend saw Brighton lose to fellow rivals Crystal Palace 3-0 in a game which saw centre-back Lewis Dunk get sent-off and it means he won’t be able to start this Saturday. However, Poyet should be able to recall John Terry’s best mate Wayne Bridge back from injury helping his injury-hit squad.
The Line -UpWell after last weekends battling performance at Millwall, we now have the chance to add a few fresh faces back from injury that give us an added boost to continue our unbeaten streak. One big addition is the return of Michael Morrison at centre-back from suspension and he should be replacing Dorian Dervite despite the Frenchman’s good display at Millwall.
The dilemma for Powell as always is in midfield where we still haven’t been consistent enough for the majority of the season. It is likely that Arsenal-loanee Emmanuel Frimpong will be recalled and after Salim Kerkar’s disappointing performance last weekend, we could see Johnnie Jackson back at left-midfield. We may also see Danny Green returning at right-midfield to add a bit more attacking flair to our right-side. Moreover, Lawrie Wilson should be fit enough at least for a place on the bench.
Up-front is another dilemma for Powell as Haynes is now available meaning that he may have to drop one of Hulse or Kermorgant to introduce a bit of pace up-front. In addition, Ricardo Fuller is also a doubt for Saturday, but we may see him on the bench.
The Prediction2-2 Draw.
My chosen line-up:
Comments
Hopefully we will show some sort of improvement this time round.
Our first red card of the season but they will also have a player sent off for Ricardo's penalty.
I'd be very surprised if Green started. I'd also be very surprised if Pritchard didn't start...
A higher tempo and a bit less caution required - would like to see Green start, or at least introduced early if things are going to plan.
I know they are looking forward to this one - crowd will be loud - we gave them a lot more tickets that Palace did.
1-1
2-1 win