Brighton & Hove Albion will conclude their pre-season preparations with a home encounter against Spanish outfit Espanyol at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
Both sides head into this fixture after recording two victories, one draw and one defeat from their first four warm-up matches this summer.
Match preview
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After winning successive friendly fixtures against Estoril Praia and Reading, Brighton suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at home against fellow Premier League side Brentford on Tuesday.
The Seagulls beat the Bees both home and away in the top flight last season, but Ivan Toney scored the only goal of their warm-up clash in the 78th minute to condemn Graham Potter's side to their first defeat this summer.
Brighton have been in the headlines during the transfer window, but while talk of potential incomings has been scarce, there has been plenty of speculation over the future of Marc Cucurella amid links with Manchester City. The Seagulls will be keen to hold on to the £50m-rated left-back having already allowed key midfielder Yves Bissouma to join Tottenham Hotspur.
After four successive Premier League seasons where they finished no higher than 15th place, Brighton enjoyed a successful 2021-22 campaign and secured ninth spot, their highest-ever top-flight position to date.
Brighton's final warm-up match against Espanyol will be followed by their opening league fixture of the new season at Old Trafford against Manchester United on August 7.
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Espanyol made a positive start to their pre-season earlier this month, securing 2-0 wins against French outfits Montpellier and Lille either side of a goalless draw with Las Palmas.
However, the Parakeets have since suffered their first defeat of the summer against Spanish third division side Linense, who scored in the 88th minute to claim a surprise 1-0 win on Thursday.
After three years at Granada, Diego Martinez has taken the reins at Espanyol and he is tasked with ensuring that his new side avoid second-season syndrome following last term's 14th-placed finish in their first year back in La Liga.
Espanyol – who have signed five new players this summer including midfielder Tonny Vilhena and former Stoke City and Newcastle United forward Joselu – have friendly fixtures against both Brighton and Napoli before beginning the new season away at Celta Vigo on August 13.
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Team News
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Brighton boss Potter has confirmed that Neal Maupay will be involved on Saturday despite reported interest from Italian outfit Salernitana who have allegedly made a £15m bid for the striker.
New recruits Deniz Undav, Julio Enciso and Kacper Kozlowski – the latter of whom arriving in January – all featured for the Seagulls for the first time on Tuesday and the trio are expected to get minutes again this weekend.
The likes of Cucurella, Leandro Trossard, Adam Webster and Enock Mwepu are all expected to play as they build up their fitness before the new season begins.
As for Espanyol, Adria Pedrosa and Sergi Gomez are both ruled out due to injury, with the latter set to undergo tests on a back problem, while Fernando Calero and Brian Olivan are both doubtful and are unlikely to be risked this weekend.
Last season's top scorer Raul de Tomas, who netted 17 times in 34 La Liga games, is yet to feature in pre-season amid uncertainty over his future at the club, and the Spaniard is set to miss out again on Saturday, while Chinese forward Wu Lei is believed to be in Barcelona negotiating his move to Shanghai SIPG.
Javi Puado and Sergi Darder will be hoping to force their way back into the first XI, with the former expected to start in attack alongside Joselu and Adrian Embarba.
Brighton & Hove Albion possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; Veltman, Dunk, Duffy; Lamptey, Mwepu, Alzate, Cucurella; Mac Allister; Trossard, Maupay
Espanyol possible starting lineup:
Lecomte; Gil, Cabrera, Recasens, Puig; Souza, Darder, Bare; Embarba, Joselu, Puado
We say: Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 Espanyol
A closely-fought contest is set to be played out this weekend, although the Premier League outfit will be regarded as the slight favourites here.
If Potter is to name a strong Brighton side, then they should have enough quality to come away with victory against an Espanyol team who could be missing a number of first-team players.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
