Sussex

Chris Sutton is making predictions for all 380 Premier League games this season, against a variety of guests.

This week, he takes on Eats Everything, aka DJ and producer Daniel Pearce.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Brighton have been patchy of late but they should have beaten West Ham on Saturday and I don't feel like they have dropped off quite as much as their run of five games without a win suggests.

There will be goals in this game, because the Seagulls are leaking them and Brentford always look dangerous, but I am going for a narrow home win.

Eats Everything's prediction: 1-1

Brentford have been terrible away and unreal at home - at least until they lost to Nottingham Forest on Saturday anyway. I was going to give this to Brighton but they have been so hit and miss that I am actually going to go for a draw.

Read the full predictions and have your say here

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Fabian Hurzeler says Mats Wieffer can become one of the best players in the Premier League.

The Dutch midfielder, a summer arrival from PSV, scored his first goal for the club last weekend in the 1-1 draw at West Ham.

"Nowadays you call it the holding six and I think that this is one of the most important positions in our team," Hurzeler said.

"He is very good in possession, has good passing and a good understanding of the game. Out of possession, he is very athletic.

"He is a fast and tall, so he has the whole package to be a top, top player in the Premier League.

"He needed a little bit of time to adapt to the intensity and to the speed of everything as it is different to the league he played before, but he was always there in training and he always tried to improve."

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Brentford boss Thomas Frank was in full praise of Brighton before Friday's Premier League game between the teams at Amex Stadium.

The Seagulls have not won since 23 November, but the Bees remain without a league victory on the road this season and Frank is expecting a competitive match.

"They have so many threats going forward so I expect a difficult game," Frank said.

"Every away game is a chance to turn the away form. We go there with belief that we can win. That said, Brighton are a strong team.

"Fabian Hurzeler has done a good job, They've got a very good squad, a more or less fully firing squad, available.

"[Kaoru] Mitoma is finding his form again. [Joao] Pedro we know is a top player.

"[Carlos] Baleba is an excellent midfielder. He will go to one of the bigger clubs in the future, for sure."

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Brighton's head of commercial, Russell Wood, spoke to BBC Radio Sussex about part of the club's stadium development plans to generate a greater atmosphere:

"We're going to put a new tier on the North Stand, which will be a new hospitality concept. The concept is deliberately designed to help drive atmosphere; it will be home fans only and wearing football shirts will be encouraged. The North Stand is an area that generates a lot of atmosphere and we want it to be complimentary to that.

"The away fans behind the goal look quite prominent at the moment. The perception could be that they are 25% of the stadium, when the reality is that they are less than 10%.

"We want to move them from behind the goal into the south west corner and spread them across two tiers. We think there will be a small competitive advantage [for Brighton], whether that is a slightly broken atmosphere in the away end or allowing our home fans to be more prominent and loud.

"The players have commented on taking penalties in front of the away fans, [they would] prefer to be in front of the home fans. Past and present managers have said it's not ideal.

"It will be ready for the 2027-28 season."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

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For me, wherever I played, I'd always see where the first game was, where the last game was, and where we were at Christmas.

There is such a big difference between being at home on Boxing Day versus being away because, depending on what your manager is like, if you've got an away game there is a chance you're training on Christmas Day.

Some of the toughest times I had was when we had away games on Boxing Day and we had to come in to train at four or five on Christmas. That's when everything is just starting at home and everyone is really enjoying themselves and you have to leave.

If you lose you are sat in the hotel having walked away from friends and family all for no points. It's not the best feeling and as a consequence you bring home some of that disappointment with you.

But, in reality, you just know it is the busiest time of the year. The floodlights are always on for the games, the conditions get that little bit tougher, you've got games it feels like every three or four days.

I think it's an exciting part of the season because you can gain real, significant momentum but ultimately it comes down to are you winning games.

I think the Christmas period itself can be tough if you have got family but in reality it always feels nicer when you get that win on Boxing Day. The atmosphere in the stadiums is a little bit different, the atmosphere among the players is a bit different.

You're very thankful to get the chance to do what you do, but if you end up losing on Boxing Day or around that spell it is rubbish because it almost feels like it was a waste of time with all the efforts you put in.

But, I get it. The fans love it, there is a lot of clamour around it. You lose track of days just like everyone else does after Christmas and before New Year but it is great to play in front of those types of crowds and it just does feel different playing during that week or two.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Nat Hayward

Scott McCarthy
Fan writer

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It has been a weird 2024 for Brighton. The year began with Albion fans wondering where Roberto de Zerbi might lead the club in Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League. A first major piece of silverware did not seem out of the question. De Zerbi dared us to dream.

But then it all went sour. Tony Bloom divorced De Zerbi. Bloom soon got over it by spending £193m in a single transfer window. All those shiny new toys were given to a 31-year-old from Germany, who used them to defeat Manchester United, Spurs and Manchester City but failed to beat Ipswich, Wolves, Southampton, Leicester and Crystal Palace.

And it is Palace who provide my Brighton highlight of 2024 from their visit to the Amex back in February which, admittedly, now feels like a lifetime ago.

Albion fans had long been saying that Seagulls were light years ahead of Eagles in every department - stadium, training ground, vision, manager, owner and ultimately reaching Europe before Palace. Have you ever seen the Palace in the 'Dam? No you have not.

To really prove it though, Brighton needed to beat their rivals convincingly on the pitch. De Zerbi delivered with a thumping 4-1 victory, the biggest the Albion have managed over their rivals in my lifetime.

The game was done inside 45 minutes. Brighton led 3-0 going into the break, sparking the glorious scene of Palace fans walking out to leave a half-empty away end with another half of football still to be played.

Those Eagles who remained until the bitter end then got in a heated argument with their players at full time while Albion fans partied. Some way to celebrate Dry January being over, let me tell you.

It was the perfect day. Just don't mention the fact Palace ended the season above us. Or what happened the other week on their return to the Amex.

Find more from Scott McCarthy at We Are Brighton, external