Prediction & odds for the game: Brighton (8/5) v Wolves (9/5) – ST is backing the draw

When: Saturday, 2nd January @ 5.30pm K.O

Where: Amex Stadium

Brighton & Hove Albion will continue their survival push when they host Wolverhampton Wanderers in an intriguing clash on Saturday to kickstart 2021.

Brighton

Nobody should rush to judge Graham Potter and the work he’s done thus far at the Amex with the Seagulls because we still believe he’s in the early stages of his rebuilding plan. Brighton have some really impressive players at their disposal and they will continue to utilise them for as long as they can, but every now and then this season, the first team has come together as a whole to provide fans with a really entertaining style of football.

Back to back defeats against Southampton and Leicester would’ve hurt at the start of the month, but three successive draws against Fulham, Sheffield United and West Ham gave Brighton something to sink their teeth into – even if they probably should’ve won a few of those games. In their last outing against Arsenal, they were unlucky to come away with a 1-0 defeat after a really competitive showing against the Gunners.

Wolves

Wolverhampton Wanderers fans seem to be getting quite frustrated with Nuno Espirito Santo after a handful of frustrating decisions and results, although it must be noted that they have a tendency to be a bit fickle from time to time. The squad isn’t where it needs to be right now which is an issue that needs to be resolved in January, and while the blame can be put on the injury to Raul Jimenez, the club needs to accept some responsibility on the recruitment side of things.

Winning against Chelsea and snatching a draw against Tottenham is great, but when you can’t maintain that consistency, there are clearly problems that need to be addressed. In the month of December alone we’ve seen Wolves slip to defeats against Liverpool, Aston Villa, Burnley and, perhaps most heartbreakingly, Manchester United in injury time.

Conclusion

Both teams are going to be anxious here because another defeat could leave either manager feeling a bit uncertain about their future heading into 2021 – and while that may sound harsh, it’s true. We’re expecting this to be something of a stalemate with Wolves still being hesitant to pull the trigger and Brighton not having enough attacking options in their arsenal to cause the visitors problems. We’re going with a draw, and we can’t see too many other ways around that.

In terms of our official scoreline prediction we’re actually going to go with 1-1, although we wouldn’t be shocked if it was 0-0 – ensuring we stick with the under 2.5 goals market either way.

Verdict: Back the draw at odds of 11/5 and the under 2.5 goals scored at odds of 8/15 (All odds are taken from bet365).

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If you want to bet on Brighton vs Wolves then head on over to the betting page. Alternatively, you can check out some of the other available fixtures at the soccer predictions page as we approach the always decisive month of January.