Brighton’s Dutch defender Joel Veltman has played in 11 of their 12 league games so far this season, committing 12 fouls for an average of 1.09 fouls per game.

While we are expecting a Brighton win on Friday, Southampton play some good football and will create problems for the home side’s defence.

Tyler Dibling has drawn 23 fouls in just eight Premier League appearances this season, while his teammates Flynn Downes and Kyle Walker-Peters have each been fouled on 18 occasions, so there is a good chance that Veltman will give away at least one foul in this game.

Adam Armstrong has been prolific during his time in the Premier League and the former Newcastle man hasn’t been particularly accurate with his shots this season, but we are backing him to hit the target at least once on Friday.

The Southampton forward has taken 14 shots this season, which is the joint-highest of any Saints player, but only four of those shots have hit the target which means his SoT ration sits at just 28.6%.

This Brighton defence will give opposing attackers chances and with Armstrong averaging 0.68 SoT per game this season, there is a good chance that he will trouble the Seagulls’ goalkeeper.

Bart Verbruggen has started 10 of Brighton’s 12 league games this season and during that time the Dutch international has faced 52 shots on target against, 37 of which he has saved. That means that Verbruggen has an impressive save percentage of 75% and that he faces an average of 5.2 shots on target per game.

If Southampton only achieve half of the average shots on target that the Dutch shot-stopper usually faces then there is still a great chance that Verbruggen will make at least two saves on Friday night. Jason Steele, who played in goal for Brighton’s other two league games, also has a 75% save ratio from the four SoT he has faced.

Joao Pedro is Brighton’s in-form player right now and we’ve backed the Brazilian to score or get an assist against Southampton on Friday night.
Pedro has both scored and assisted in each of Brighton’s last two Premier League games against Manchester City and Bournemouth, both of which ended in victory.

The Brazilian scored the Seagulls equaliser against Man City before going on to setup the winning goal for O’Riley. In his next game against the Cherries, Pedro opened the scoring after just four minutes and then setup Mitoma to make it 2-0 early in the second half, so you can see why we’ve backed the 23-year-old to add to his goal contributions on Friday night.

Only Danny Welbeck has had more shots on target (12) for Brighton in the Premier League this season than Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma. Mitoma has hit the target 10 times in his 11 starts and one substitute appearance and has taken a total of 23 shots, which makes for a SoT ratio of 43.5%.

The Japanese international is averaging 0.90 shots on target per game in the Premier League this season and on Friday night the Seagulls go up against the worst defence in the league so far this season. Southampton boast a goal difference of -15 and have only picked up four points from their opening 12 league games. Mitoma has scored twice so far this season and will be hoping to add to his tally on Friday.

Despite doing most of his damage in the oppositions’ half, Brighton’s attacking midfielder Georginio Rutter has committed the most fouls in the blue and white of the Seagulls this season. The Frenchman has 19 fouls against his name in 11 Premier League appearances, two of which have been as a substitute.

His nearest teammate Carlos Baleba, who is suspended for the Southampton game, has only committed 15 fouls and has picked up three yellow cards and on red compared to Rutter’s two yellow cards. Taking away his substitute appearances, Rutter is averaging 1.88 per start (9) in the Premier League this season, so a bet on the French midfielder to commit two or more fouls doesn’t feel farfetched.