Watford

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Alex Bysouth, BBC Sport

Graham Potter insists Brighton are not thinking about Europe but if the Seagulls continue their current form, they will soon be in contention.

The visitors dominated possession against Watford at Vicarage Road but it took a moment of magic from Neal Maupay to open the scoring, curling a looping effort into the far corner from Tariq Lamptey's cross.

Brighton have only lost four Premier League fixtures so far this campaign - a record only bettered by Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea - and are enjoying their longest unbeaten streak in the top flight.

Watford boss Roy Hodgson, who took a call from former Hornets chairman Elton John earlier this week, has only been in charge a little over two weeks but no doubt will be increasingly worried about his side's lack of goals.

Watford are yet to score since he arrived and now find themselves six points from safety.

Brighton manager Graham Potter, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "One of our better performances in of controlling the game away as much as you can in the Premier League. Apart from a 15-minute spell in the second half, I thought we were in a good place in the game. It is not easy to create chances against Roy's teams. The personality of the players was really good.

"It was a fantastic finish from Neal [Maupay]. I was sat down and it wasn't the easiest of views. It looked a really good finish from a nice period of play. You have to wait for the right time to attack. It was a good ball from Tariq and a nice goal.

"We reacted well throughout the game. When we lost the ball we reacted well. We ed it with patience and, when we could, with a purpose. It is not easy. The boys had courage and personality.

"It is nice for the fans to enjoy their day. All we do is go to Old Trafford on Tuesday and to get three points and play well. We are looking forward. We respect the competition and table. We are in a good position. We want more points. This is a hungry group."

Watford boss Roy Hodgson, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "In the first half we didn't play anywhere near as well as I was expecting. Still a bit unfortunate to go in 1-0 down as we were still not conceding a lot of goal chances. We were better at the start of the second half but still without creating the threat or goal chances we needed. The game gets put to bed with a scrambled goal from a corner. We were hoping for a lot and start a revival. So now we go to the next game and hope we can start it then.

"When the goal goes in just before half-time it is the worst possible moment. If we go in at 0-0 and maybe make one or two points to the players we might have given ourselves a better platform. But we were doing that from the platform of 1-0 down. In the end, putting lots of attacking players on might cost us with counter-attacks. And that is what happened.

"Everyone at the club thinks a lot of Ismaila [Sarr]. I've not had much chance to work with him, but I know of him from watching Watford games. We know what a good player he is and have to hope his talent and skill will help us in this battle for survival.

"It [his track record in the past] puts me in good stead going forward. But I need a group of players with the same resilience and ability to come over disappointments. That will be our message, I can point to ages in my past where it has worked. But the only people who will get us out of this are the players and they are going to need a lot of mental strength going forward. It is a lot of defeats in 23 games and we need some wins."

Image source, BBC Sport

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Match report and reaction will be on this page later

Roy Hodgson sticks with the same Watford side beaten 1-0 at West Ham in midweek, with Ismaila Sarr named on the bench after returning from his Africa Cup of Nations victory with Senegal.

Watford XI: Foster, Femenia, Cathcart, Samir, Kamara, Kucka, Sissoko, Kayembe, Cleverley, King, Dennis.

Image source, BBC Sport

Brighton make two changes following last Saturday's FA Cup defeat at Tottenham, with Joel Veltman and Danny Welbeck replacing Yves Bissouma and Solly March, who are both on the bench.

Leandro Trossard and Alexis Mac Allister also return to the squad following their absences with Covid-19.

Brighton XI: Sanchez, Lamptey, Veltman, Webster, Dunk, Cucurella, Gross, Lallana, Moder, Maupay, Welbeck.

Image source, BBC Sport

For this weekend's Premier League predictions, Mark Lawrenson takes on American Night actor Jeremy Piven.

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

Watford have not scored in either of their games since Roy Hodgson took charge, but he won't be too bothered about that right now. His first priority was shutting the back door because they were conceding far too many before he arrived.

There won't be many goals about in this game either and, because it's Brighton, it's going to be a draw, isn't it? That's what the Seagulls do.

Jeremy's prediction: 1-1

Find out how Lawro and Jeremy think the rest of the weekend's fixtures will go