MatchThe opposition lowdown: Brighton & Hove Albion

Recent form

Brighton's last competitive fixture came in the Europa League on March 14.

Roberto De Zerbi's team secured a 1-0 win over Serie A outfit AS Roma at home, though exited the competition overall due to an aggregate defeat in the last-16 tie.

Most recently in the Premier League, the Seagulls defeated Nottingham Forest 1-0, meaning they come into this weekend in eighth place in the table.

Opposition view

Derren Howard, Brighton Sports Editor, National World

On Brighton's season so far…

Very challenging season for Brighton. They lost their two best players last summer in Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo to Liverpool and Chelsea respectively. They have also suffered season-ending injuries to Solly March, Jack Hinshelwood and Kaoru Mitoma, while former Reds James Milner and Adam Lallana and key attackers Julio Enciso and Joao Pedro have missed large chunks of the campaign.

On top of that, they have had to balance the Premier League and Europa League - so all in all De Zerbi has done pretty well to manage that and keep Brighton in the hunt for Europe once more with 10 games to go.

On De Zerbi's style of play…

Ideally, it's four at the back with two midfielders - usually Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour - in front and the rest is organised chaos in attack. The attacking positions are always pretty fluid with De Zerbi and changes often throughout the 90 minutes. His number one choice is Mitoma and March cutting in from the flanks, but injuries have prevented that this term. Also, who plays in goal between Bart Verbruggen and Jason Steele is anyone's guess.

On Brighton's key players…

I've been really impressed with young Netherlands defender Jan Paul van Hecke. It's his breakthrough season in the Premier League and he and Lewis Dunk have struck up a decent partnership at the back. Gilmour has become a trusted regular in midfield, while AFCON winner Simon Adingra is a danger from wide areas.

Predicted line-up...

Always tough to call with De Zerbi - particularly after an international break - but I'll go with a 4-2-3-1: Steele; Lamptey, Van Hecke, Dunk, Igor; Gilmour, Gross; Fati, Adingra, Pedro; Welbeck.

Previous meeting

The Reds and Brighton played out a 2-2 draw at Amex Stadium in the last fixture between the two teams. Mohamed Salah netted twice for the Reds on the south coast in October.

What they said

Brighton head coach De Zerbi

"We need to win some more games. We have to win many games to reach another season in the European positions. We are playing a very tough game but in the Premier League there aren't easy games, simple games, so we have to believe. Playing one game a week, we can prepare better, we can cover some injured players and compete to reach another level.

"To win seven games out of 10 is a very big target. We have to think and be focused game by game now. We start with one of the toughest games because we play in Anfield, but we go to play well, to fight, with courage and to make points."