Brentford face Brighton and Hove Albion at the Amex in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off GMT).

The Seagulls haven't lost a home game since 2 April, beating Manchester City, Newcastle and Leeds already this term. Keith Andrews' side will be looking to record their first ever away win against this weekend's hosts.

Analysis, team news, match officials and more. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the fixture.

Pre-match Analysis

Stephen Gillett, Playmaker Stats: Brighton may need to temper high press with Brentford clinical on counter attack

Two of the Premier League’s most unpredictably thrilling teams clash this Saturday.

Both clubs finished in the top 10 last season and have earned reputations as astute operators on and off the pitch. They’re neck and neck this year, level on 16 points after 11 games.

Brentford have lost only one of their last six meetings against Brighton, but they have yet to beat the Seagulls away in the Premier League.

With that in mind, head coach Keith Andrews will want his side to translate their strong home form into their travels - but the Bees face a stern test against one of five teams yet to lose on home turf this term (Brighton, Arsenal, Sunderland, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace).

Both clubs are frequently cited for their data-led recruitment and resource efficiency. The rapid strides made by two emerging talents, Yankuba Minteh and Yehor Yarmoliuk, have been compelling to track in this context.

Signed by Brighton from Newcastle after a scintillating loan spell at Feyenoord in 2023/24, Minteh has quickly become one of the most exciting wingers in the Premier League.

Shortlisted for the Premier League Player of the Month in September, the 21-year-old has been in sensational form at the start of the current campaign, and his ability to leave opponents for dead in 1v1s is evidenced by his numbers. Ranked joint-third for successful dribbles in the division, Minteh's take-on completion percentage of 55 per cent is higher than any player among the league’s top 10 dribblers, and he has played more key passes (17) than any other Brighton player this term.

Fresh from consecutive starts for Ukraine during the international break, Yarmoliuk - who is also 21 - has established himself in the heart of Brentford's midfield this season, with his form softening the blow of Christian Nørgaard's summer departure to Arsenal.

Top of the Premier League for blocks this term, with 23, the former Dnipro-1 midfielder has been an effervescent presence in the Bees' engine room and was hailed for his "really outstanding" performances by his head coach at the end of October.

Beyond his defensive work, Yarmoliuk has dovetailed well with the experienced Jordan Henderson, and his all-round ability is underscored by him ranking among Brentford's top five players for pass completion (81 per cent), tackles won (2.1 per 90) and successful dribbles (0.9 per 90).

At the top end of the pitch, there's an intriguing shoot-out in store.

Joint-second in the Premier League goal charts, with eight, Igor Thiago has made a sensational start to the 2025/26 campaign. After a clinical brace against Newcastle last time out, the Brazilian is averaging a goal every 116 minutes and has scored 47 per cent of Brentford's goals this term - only Man City’s Erling Haaland (61 per cent) has netted a greater share for his team.

Just behind Thiago in the Golden Boot stakes is Brighton's evergreen forward Danny Welbeck, whose ruthless finishing has seen him significantly outperform his expected goals. Now 34, Welbeck is the most prolific Englishman in the Premier League with six goals despite an xG of only 3.89, giving him a positive xG differential of +2.11.

Brighton rank top in the Premier League for high turnovers (101), but may need to temper their press given Brentford's threat in transition, as illustrated by the Bees' four goals on the counter this term.

Evolution may be the watchword at both clubs, but who will adapt best to their opponents at the Amex on Saturday?

Scout Report

Dan Long, Sky Sports: Home form has been key for Seagulls under Hürzeler

Brighton had an absolutely storming end to last season in the Premier League.

That is not to say they did not start the season well, because they did - the first 19 took in wins over Manchester United, Tottenham, Newcastle and Manchester City. But in that same run of games, there were far too many draws. Nine, in fact.

Nine points, of course, is a tally not to be sniffed at - just ask fellow south coast club Southampton, who picked up only three more across the entirety of the season. But for a team chasing a return to Europe, after they got their first taste in 2023/24, dropped points were costly.

Fabian Hürzeler’s side had to play catch-up - and they sure gave it a go.

They started the year with a 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal and, from that and the 18 games that followed, they took 34 of the 54 points on offer. If the season had started on New Year’s Day, they would have finished sixth, only six points behind Manchester City.

In reality, they finished eighth, only five points behind Newcastle, who finished fifth and qualified for the Champions League.

The margins are narrow and unforgiving at times, but while they narrowly missed the main aim, Brighton did set a new record for their fewest defeats in a Premier League season (9), while two more points would have set a new record points tally of 63.

The Athletic reported towards the end of last season that talk of reaching Europe had been banned at the club, but Brian Owen said in Hot off the Press that he had spoken to Danny Welbeck in the summer, who said they hoped to make the most of other clubs’ extra commitments to boost their own chances.

They have had a solid enough start, with the key being strong home form. Manchester City, Newcastle and Leeds have all left the Amex with nothing; Fulham and Tottenham had to rely on late equalisers for a point each. They have only taken five points from the first six on the road, but then again, only three teams have picked up 10 or more so far anyway (Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea).

They are three points worse off than they were at this point last season, though. And, without Welbeck, there might not be the level of positivity there is right now.

The 34-year-old finished last season with 11 goals in all competitions, which represented his second-best tally in a single season, but he scored twice in the 3-1 win at Chelsea on 27 September and now has six in his last six games.

Seven more and he will hit a new milestone of 13 in a single season; 17 more and he will join the Premier League 100 Club. For now, an England recall looks out of the question, unfortunately for him.

Meanwhile, the fixture list is a little kinder-looking for Brighton over the next few weeks; after the Brentford game, they face Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and West Ham.

And while it is all well and good beating the Premier League’s big-hitters on the regular, these are the games they must take points from to spark that European challenge again.

In the Dugout

Fabian Hürzeler

Born in February 1993, during the time his Swiss father and German mother were working in the USA, Fabian Hürzeler started out as part of Bayern Munich's youth system after returning to Europe aged two.

He spent the best part of a decade with Die Roten, working his way up to play for Bayern Munich II, while also playing for the German national team with the U15s, U16s, U17s and U19s.

Hürzeler moved on in 2013, first to 1899 TSG Hoffenheim II, then to 1860 Munich II a year later, before dropping to the fifth tier of German football with Pipinsried, where he combined playing with the role of head coach, while also working as assistant manager of the German U18s and U20s. His coaching credentials were clear from the start, as Pipinsreid won promotion from the Bayernliga Sud in his first season.

After four years, he left the club in the summer of 2020 and was appointed assistant at St Pauli. Two-and-a-half years later - aged just 29 - he became head coach after the departure of Timo Schulz, four months before he was granted his UEFA Pro Licence, and led the club to a fifth-place finish in the 2. Bundesliga in 2022/23.

Hurzeler's side flourished in 2023/24, though, and went unbeaten in their first 20 games of the season, on the way to pipping Holstein Kiel to the title by a single point to secure a return to the Bundesliga after 13 years away.

Just three months after signing a new contract at St Pauli in March 2024, Hurzeler took over from Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton, becoming the Premier League's youngest permanent manager in history at the age of 31.

He turns 33 in February and remains the youngest manager in the entirety of the top four divisions of English football.

The Gameplan

With Brian Owen, The Argus

Brian Owen, sports reporter for The Argus, discusses Brighton's set-up and style of play.

"Brighton do try to pass the ball out from the back through Jan Paul van Hecke," said Owen.

"Yankuba Minteh is one winger, but they have not really played a winger on the other side, with Kaoru Mitoma being out; they have used Diego Gómez as an inverted winger.

"They press quite well out of possession, but there have been comments that they have not had the intensity as a team that was expected when Fabian Hürzeler arrived at the club.

"They do play some quite attractive football, certainly if you compare them to Palace in the last game.

"Technically, the formation is a 4-2-3-1, but like most teams, a lot of the time, they will only have three at the back and they have Mats Wieffer, a defensive midfielder, at right-back, who joins in in midfield quite a lot."

Last Premier League starting XI v Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Verbruggen; Wieffer, van Hecke, Dunk, Kadıoğlu; Baleba, Ayari; Minteh, Rutter, Gómez; Welbeck

Read our full interview with Brian Owen here

Match Officials

Brooks to referee Bees for second time this season

Referee: John Brooks

Assistants: Simon Bennett and Lee Betts

Fourth official: Thomas Kirk

VAR: Tony Harrington

Saturday's game will be John Brooks' 16th refereeing Brentford. It will be his second this season, after he was the man in the middle for the Bees' penalty shoot-out win over Aston Villa in the EFL Cup at Gtech Community Stadium.

The Leicestershire and Rutland official started in the Leicestershire local leagues in the mid-2000s before moving up the ranks.

He ran the line at Wembley for the 2014 Sky Bet Championship play-off final, the same year he began refereeing in the National League. Two years later, in August 2016, Brooks took charge of his first EFL games.

Brooks became a Premier League referee in 2021 and has officiated 64 top-flight games since then, three coming this term.

Last Meeting

Brentford 4 Brighton 2, (Premier League, 19 April 2025)

Brentford picked up three points at Gtech Community Stadium after coming out on top of a six-goal thriller against Brighton.

A Bryan Mbeumo brace and a strike from Yoane Wissa saw the Bees move into a 3-1 lead, with Danny Welbeck heading in for the visitors.

João Pedro was sent off for lashing out at Nathan Collins, but Brighton set up a nervy finish when Kaoru Mitoma rolled in to reduce the deficit.

Christian Nørgaard netted a stoppage-time header to put the result beyond doubt.