Bournemouth welcome Brighton to the Vitality Stadium tonight as they continue their fight for survival in the Premier League.
The Cherries have won two of their last three games and beat Fulham at the weekend, with another victory this evening moving them further clear of the relegation zone.
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Gary O’Neil’s side are only one point above the drop zone and sit in 17th but three points could see them rise to as high as 13th.
However, they face a very tough task against the high-flying Brighton who are in the top six and closing in on fourth.
Robert De Zerbi is dreaming of a place in Europe next season and if his team come out on top tonight, that dream takes a step closer to becoming a reality.
Bournemouth vs Brighton: talkSPORT coverage
This Premier League clash will take place on Tuesday, April 4.
Kick-off at the Vitality Stadium is scheduled for 7:45pm.
The game is not available to watch on UK TV but talkSPORT have you covered.
We have exclusive live coverage of the game on the talkSPORT APP with commentary coming from Toby Gilles via talkSPORT International.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream.
u can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
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Bournemouth vs Brighton: Teams
Bournemouth: Neto, Smith, Stephens, Senesi, Kelly, Ouattara, Christie, Lerma, Traore, Billing, Solanke
Subs: Travers, Cook, Brooks, Rothwell, Tavernier, Vina, Rothwell, Semenyo, Zabarnyi
Brighton: Steele, Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Estupinan, Gross, Caicedo, March, Mac Allister, Mitoma, Ferguson
Subs: Sanchez, Colwill, Welbeck, Enciso, Undav, Ayari, Gilmour, Van Hecke, Buonanotte
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Bournemouth vs Brighton: What has been said?
Seagulls boss De Zerbi has targeted a place in Europe this season and knows his team have to win this type of game to achieve that.
He said: "We have to be alert, because it will be a difficult game.
“In their stadium they have beaten Liverpool and Fulham recently so to win we have to give our best and if we play at 90% of our best, we can’t win.
“It’s another crucial game. If we want to reach our target we have to improve in the areas we lost two points against Brentford on Saturday.
“The target is Europe next year. Which competition, we will see. We want to play in the middle of the week next season – three games per week, Europe."
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Bournemouth vs Brighton: Match facts
- Kaoru Mitoma has been directly involved in 10 goals in his last 14 league appearances, scoring seven and assisting three. He's either scored (2) or assisted (2) a goal in his last four Premier League games, with no Brighton player ever registering a goal involvement in five in a row in the competition before.
- Brighton’s Solly March has scored four goals in his last five away Premier League appearances – he’d only scored two goals in his first 79 away top-flight games, although one of those was at Bournemouth in September 2017.
- Bournemouth have faced more shots than any other Premier League side this season (467), while their average of facing 5.3 shots on target per game is their highest in a single top-flight campaign. Meanwhile, last time out against Brentford, Brighton registered their most ever shots (33) and shots on target (15) in a single Premier League match.
- Bournemouth have won their last two Premier League home games, as many as in their previous 11 at Vitality Stadium (D4 L5). They've not won three in a row at home in the top-flight since February 2018.
- Brighton are unbeaten in their last six Premier League away games (W3 D3) since a 3-1 loss at Man City in October – it's the longest current unbeaten run on the road in the competition. The Seagulls have only failed to score in one of their last 14 Premier League away games, but they've also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last 10.
- Brighton have won their last two midweek Premier League games, beating Everton 4-1 in January and Crystal Palace 1-0 last month. They'd only won two of their previous 23 Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday games between December 2019 and October 2022 (D10 L11).
- Bournemouth have won just one of their last 13 midweek (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) Premier League games (D3 L9), though that victory was at home to Brighton on a Tuesday in January 2020 (3-1). The Cherries have failed to score in all four such games this season (D1 L3).
- Brighton have lost two of their four Premier League games against promoted sides this season (W1 D1), more than they had in their previous 15 such matches (W7 D7). They lost their last such game against Fulham, last losing consecutively against promoted sides in April 2019 (3 in a row).
- Brighton have won two of their last three league games against Bournemouth (L1), as many as they had in their previous 14 (D5 L7). They're looking to complete their first league double over the Cherries since the 2007-08 League One campaign.
- Bournemouth have won their last four home league games against Brighton, including all three in the Premier League. Overall, they're unbeaten in six at home against the Seagulls since a 2-0 loss in October 2007.
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