Recent performances from Burnley displayed a glimmer of life to their Premier League survival, but it was disappointment in their crucial clash with Everton, falling to a 1-0 defeat to the team led by the man they once worshipped, Sean Dyche.
Brighton, meanwhile, have struggled to achieve the same level of consistency they produced last season, and an exit from the Europa League has left the hunt for the top eight their sole purpose for the rest of the campaign.
Here’s what we can expect from the 3:00pm clash at Turf Moor.
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Burnley’s dirty laundry
Burnley have failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last 14 Premier League games, dating back to before Christmas.
In that time, the Clarets have conceded 31 goals, averaging just over two goals a game.
This has made life very difficult for Vincent Kompany’s side, who have only mustered 32 goals all season.
An already impossible-looking task is made even more unlikely when Burnley are effectively conceding two goals for each one they score.
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Brighton’s road struggles
Roberto De Zerbi’s side have won just one of their last ten matches on the road in the Premier League, dating back to the end of November.
Based on home form, Brighton would be in the European places as of now, so it is performances away from the Amex that are currently costing the Sussex side, picking up just 16 points from said fixtures all season.
With crucial away games at Bournemouth and Newcastle to come, three points is a must here for Brighton if they are to achieve back-to-back European finishes.
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Burnley’s last hopes
Having been cut so far adrift early in the season, it is perhaps remarkable that until the defeat at Everton, last season’s Championship winners were perceived to still be in with a solid chance of survival.
This was in no small part due to an injection of form from two loan players, one of whom joined in January.
David Datro Fofana was part of Chelsea’s spending spree and joined the club in January 2023 for a little over £10m.
Joining from Norwegian club FK Molde, the young Ivorian was certainly one of the more unknown quantities to arrive at Stamford Bridge.
Struggling for game time, Fofana spent the first half of this season at Bundesliga club Union Berlin, earning a solid accumulation of minutes with a mixed degree of success.
In January, he returned to England to play for a Burnley side blunt in attack.
Scoring two goals off the bench on his Turf Moor debut, Fofana earned his team a point from 2-0 down against Fulham and immediately piqued the interest of the Turf Moor faithful.
Cementing his place in the starting XI, the 21-year-old has since scored two further goals to help earn his team a further four points, with a draw and a win against West Ham and Brentford respectively.
Fellow loan signing Jacob Bruun Larsen has taken a little longer to make his impact in Lancashire, but his recent contributions against Brentford and Wolves have certainly identified him as another key figure in Burnley’s survival attempt.
The Danish midfielder joined on a season-long loan from Bundesliga club Hoffenheim and now has four goals from midfield.
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Brighton’s collective contribution
Although none of Brighton’s attacking players have been able to have a consistent run of scoring form, there has been plenty of even contribution across the board, with Albion’s 51 goals being split across 12 players, and no individual player scoring more than eight goals.
There have been 16 different assisters for these goals, but one player has stood out as one of the best in the league again this campaign; Pascal Gross.
Now widely renowned as one of the most astute signings of recent times, the 32-year-old German has ten assists alone in the league this season, often playing as part of a double pivot.
With injuries and inconsistencies hampering some of the attacking players, Gross’ contributions are going to be crucial to this game, and indeed the remainder of the season for Brighton.
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What can we expect?
The two teams shared the spoils at the Amex back in December, with Brighton failing to take their chances and requiring a Simon Adingra equaliser to cancel out a first-half strike from Wilson Odobert.
Albion had a total of 29 shots with 11 on target, with James Trafford pulling out one of the best performances of his career in goal for Burnley to help his team to a hard-fought point.
Since then, Trafford has encountered some struggles, and the England U21 international has subsequently lost his starting spot to last season’s Championship-winning starter, Arijanet Muric.
Muric is yet to keep a clean sheet but performed outstandingly against both Brentford and Chelsea respectively.
Brighton will have to find more potency in attack to secure the three points on the road on this occasion, having scored just twice in their last four away matches.
However, the Sussex side will still go in as favourites against a team that has won just once in 2024.
In what is a must-win game for both, there will be an emphasis on discovering a cutting edge that has not existed in recent weeks to emerge victorious.
