Brighton v Watford Prediction: Back both teams to find the net at the Amex

Brighton earned many plaudits for the way they played much of last season, but their lack of cutting edge in front of goal meant they were unable to finish as high in the table as the performances would have you expecting. The Seagulls finished the season with 41 points, 20 less than they were predicted to have via the xG model.

Watford are back in the Premier League after a one year absence. A superb campaign in the Championship saw them finish on 91 points and they secured a valuable three points against Aston Villa on the opening day this season, finding the net three times.

Both teams have extensive injury lists and Brighton managed very well despite them missing a whole host of attacking options last week. Welbeck, Lamptey and Burn are all set to miss the game, while Veltman should return to the squad after isolating with COVID-19.

Pedro and Chalobah are expected to remain out for the visitors. Femenia, King and Kucka are all doubtful to feature for Watford.

Watford displayed a significant amount of attacking intent in their season opener as they stormed to a 3-0 lead thanks to the attacking exploits of Ismaila Sarr and Emmanuel Dennis. There was very little they could do about the first goal they conceded and Villa’s second came via the penalty spot, but the fact they allowed their opponents to pile on the pressure means they are there to be got at today.

Brighton have scored in 7 of their last 10 league matches at home, but I place a lot of weight on them managing to break down last season, scoring just one goal across both meetings and drawing on both occasions. Potter’s side created 3 big chances according to Opta last weekend.

Following on from the points touched upon so far, I do expect Brighton to concede here, but it feels as though they’ve gone someway to ironing out their issues that proved costly last season. The loss of Ben White is a big one despite his poor debut for Arsenal and there is likely to be a period of adjustment which increases my confidence that the visitors will find the here.

Brighton themselves will harbour ambitions of finished in the top half of the table, and their first competitive game in front of the fans to make it two wins from two gives them a great platform to do just that.

Both of these teams posed a significant attacking threat in the opening weekend and will come into this game full of confidence. This not only translated in 5 goals between the sides but 15 shots on target as well. Brighton managed 8 shots on target at Turf Moor after going 1-0 down early on and Watford managed 7 shots  on target against Aston Villa.