Brighton v West Brom preview– Chance for new signings to lay down a marker

Andy Hunt scored a hat-trick on his Hawthorns debut that April afternoon to fire the Baggies to a 3-1 win in a season that ended with promotion via the play-offs.

The West Midlands club have not graced those depths since then, but for Brighton, it’s been a completely different story.

Just a few years later the Seagulls were hanging on to their Football League existence by a feather, and what followed was a drawn out battle for a permanent home and a 20-year slog up to the bright lights of the Premier League.

Now they have finally made it, the seasiders are finding life tough at the top, and three straight games without a goal has taken the shine off already.

The Baggies, on the other hand, are eight seasons into this lark now, and have been turned into a crack Premier League outfit under Tony Pulis.

Seven points from a possible nine so far suggests they have continued their useful habit from last season of beating the teams below them, and there is a wave of optimism coursing through supporters after a transfer window that appears to have plugged the gaps.

Pulis will be tempted to throw his two newest faces in immediately, particularly because neither have been on international duty.

James Morrison is favourite to make way for Paris Saint-Germain loanee Grzegorz Krychowiak, particularly because it’s away from home, where Pulis prefers to shore things up.

Whether Chris Brunt is removed for Kieran Gibbs is not so clear cut, but with Salomon Rondon returning late from South America, Jay Rodriguez is expected to lead the line.

Club captain Jonny Evans is expected to return to the heart of defence in place of Ahmed Hegazi. Gareth McAuley returned to training this week but will probably only make the bench at best.

But more important than the selection will be the intent.

Will this side, no longer crippled by an ageing threadbare squad, be able to go for the jugular of a team already on the rocks?

Or will Brighton’s sheer desperation for that first win, backed by a boisterous Amex crowd, catch those newly-formed Albion partnerships on the hop?

Even if that turns out to be the case, at least Pulis now has options on his bench to wrestle back control. With a full senior squad now at his disposal, his substitutions will rightly come under more scrutiny this season. There can – and should – be a plan B.

Victory on the south coast will leave the Baggies in the top three until Monday at least, and while defeat wouldn’t be disastrous, it may slightly deflate the bubble of positivity currently engulfing supporters.

But just as important as the result, perhaps, will be the manner of the performance. An early reassurance Krychowiak, Gibbs, and Burke are as good on grass as they are on paper will be most welcome.

An Andy Hunt-style hat-trick is asking too much – but the suggestion this team will be enjoyable to watch in the future is not.

The opposition

After struggling to sign a striker during the window, Brighton will be relieved that strikers Glenn Murray and Tomer Hemed have been passed fit.

The Seagulls haven’t scored in any of their opening three Premier League games of the season, and have only picked up one point so far.

That came away at Watford last time out, but the goalless draw worried fans because Marco Silva’s side had 10 men for the majority of the game.

Brighton tried to sign Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham, Deportivo La Coruna’s Florin Andone, former Baggie Chris Wood, and made a deadline day move for Tottentham’s Vincent Janssen, but nothing came off.

And chairman Tony Bloom, who made his millions through poker and betting syndicates, admitted the inability to sign a striker left him deflated.

“We have secured many excellent signings which have strengthened the squad in many areas,” he said. “In doing so, we have invested many tens of millions of pounds and we have broken our own record transfer fee three times.

“However, in what turned out to be a very eventful final day, we failed to secure the additional striker which has left all of us feeling very disappointed.

“Our recruitment team, led by Paul Winstanley, worked tirelessly throughout the summer – and indeed in the many months before – to identify targets, prepare the ground work for our transfers, and to put us in the best possible position to execute deals at the optimum time in the window.

“A far from easy task, and a far from exact science.

“Transfer windows are highly complex and dynamic. They require considerable investments in time, resources, energy, judgement, and, of course, finances.

“We were short in none of these areas. Transfer windows also require patience and good fortune. We were patient from the outset but, in the end, fortune did not come our way.”

Brighton did make plenty of additions over the summer though.

Left-back Markus Suttner has impressed since his £4m move from Germany’s FC Ingolstadt, and Davy Propper, who arrived from PSV Eindhoven for £11.7m, scored two goals for the Netherlands this week.

But it is left winger José Izquierdo, who was bought from Club Brugge for a record £13.5m, who has got the majority of Seagulls fans squawking in anticipation.

The Colombian hasn’t started a game yet but could be thrown in with so little goal threat up front.

To add insult to injury, veteran midfielder Steve Sidwell will also miss the clash because he’s due to have minor back surgery.

Danger man - Anthony Knockaert

Last season’s Championship Player of the Year is yet to get going in the Premier League this season, but if anybody is going to fashion a chance out of nothing for the Seagulls, it is the jinking winger. On his day, the Frenchman is unplayable.

Likely line-ups

Brighton (4-4-1-1): Ryan, Suttner, Dunk, Duffy, Bruno, Izquierdo, Propper, Stephens, Knockaert, Gross, Hemed. Subs: Krul, Skalak, Hunemeier, Murphy, Kayal, March, Rosenior.

Albion (4-1-4-1): Foster, Nyom, Evans, Dawson, Brunt, Barry, Phillips, Livermore, Krychowiak, McClean, Rodriguez. Subs: Myhill, Hegazi, Gibbs, Yacob, Burke, Chadli, Rondon.

Big Match Prediction

Away win