The in-form Brighton & Hove Albion welcome Swansea City to the Amex on Wednesday for their third round of the EFL Cup with kickoff at 21:45.
Both sides have had contrasting starts to the new respective campaigns with Brighton opening the new Premier League season strongly as they have recorded four wins in their opening five games which leaves them in the top four of league standing with 12 points and only a point a drift of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United who occupy the top three spots.
The Seagulls have also already recorded a win their EFL Cup campaign having beaten and send home Cardiff City with a 2-0 away win in the second round and will head into the match confident of making into the fourth round for a second consecutive year.
While manager Graham Potter has always taken a different approach in EFL cup fixtures as he always names a team that is completely made of prospects and youngsters but with several of the players who beat Cardiff last month being send out on loan, Potter may start to view this competition as one that his side could win.
Meanwhile Swansea have made a disappointing start to their new Championship campaign recording only won one of their opening eight matches in the second tier while their have registered four draws and three defeats and currently sit in the 21st spot with seven points and -4 goal difference.
However, Swansea have had a good start in this competition as they have made it to this stage with compressive victories over Reading (0-3) in the first round and Plymouth (4-1) in the second round.
Manager Russell Martin has been somewhat of a slow burner given the success of his predecessor and is unlikely to have many ambitions for this competition but this match presents a perfect chance for some of his players to gain fitness and play without the pressures of the Championship.
Brighton vs Swansea head to head
Both sides have met in eight occasions since 2006 with Swansea holding a slight upper hand with four victories whereas Brighton have three victories and there have been a single draw.
- Brighton 4-1 Swansea 24/02/18
- Swansea 0-1 Brighton 04/11/17
- Swansea 3-0 Brighton 11/08/09
- Brighton 0-1 Swansea 03/05/08
- Swansea 1-0 Brighton 08/01/08
Home
- Brighton 2-1 Leicester
- Brentford 0-1 Brighton
- Brighton 0-2 Everton
- Cardiff 0-2 Brighton
- Brighton 2-0 Watford
Away
- Luton 3-3 Swansea
- Swansea 0-0 Millwall
- Swansea 0-0 Hull
- Preston 3-1 Swansea
- Swansea 4-1 Plymouth
Brighton team news
Brighton have everyone in perfect health and ready for selection but Potter will almost certainly make 11 changes to his starting XI.
Swansea team news
Swansea also have everyone available for the clash and while Martin will not make as many alterations to the squad but will likely look to bring fresh legs in several areas.
Prediction and odds
- Brighton win
- Goals over 2.5
- both sides to score
