With a new man at the helm once again, Brighton & Hove Albion go into the new Championship season looking to replicate the success of last term.

Oscar Garcia led the Seagulls to the playoffs but handed in his resignation almost immediately after they were comfortably beaten over two legs by Derby County in the semi-finals.

The club accepted the Spaniard's decision and have since replaced him with Sami Hyypia, who makes his return to English football after a long and successful playing career with Liverpool.

The Finn impressed during a spell in charge of Bayer Leverkusen and has experience of managing in the Champions League, which is a rarity in the second tier of English football.

However, despite being a well-known figure, Hyypia has struggled to make major strides in the transfer market and arguably begins this season with a worse squad than the last campaign.

Regular starters such as Tomasz Kuszczak, David Lopez, Andrea Orlandi and Matthew Upson have all left the club, while star striker Leonardo Ulloa made a big-money move to Leicester City.

Losing Ulloa is likely to be the biggest blow of the lot for a team that struggled for goals last season, netting the fewest in the top 17 of the table.

Pre-season form has also been iffy, and they go into Saturday's match without a win in four friendlies, including three defeats.

Sheffield Wednesday, meanwhile, enjoyed something of a revival under Stuart Gray last season, flying up the table in the second half of the campaign to eventually finish 16th.

Fans will not have forgotten that they looked destined for a relegation battle for much of the season, but their form towards the end will raise optimism for a top-half push this time around.

A number of players have come and gone from Hillsborough this summer, including the exit of Michail Antonio, who joined Nottingham Forest earlier this week.

Their form going into the season isn't great either, however, as they are also without a win in their last four friendly matches.

Recent form

Brighton: WWLDLL

Sheff Weds: WWLDLD

Possible starting lineups

Brighton: Stockdale; Calderon, Greer, Hughes, Dunk; Buckley, Ince, Forster-Caskey, March; Mackail-Smith; O'Grady

Sheff Weds: Kirkland; Palmer, Loovens, Zayatte, Mattock; Coke, Maguire, Lee, Maghoma; Madine, Nuhiu

Sports Mole says: 1-0

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