Brighton v AEK Athens preview: Seagulls embark on European journey
The Seagulls made it to the European stage with a sixth-placed Premier League finish last season and have largely impressed again this term, winning four of their opening five league games.
Interestingly, all of them have ended 3-1 or 4-1, so you’d expect goals will again be on the menu here at what is a historic evening at the AMEX Stadium.
While Brighton’s European experience is non-existent, boss Roberto De Zerbi has tasted continental football before as his Shakhtar Donetsk side reached the Champions League group stage in 2021/22, but he’ll hope Brighton don’t replicate the winless record (D2, L4) he managed back then.
AEK Athens travel to Sussex on a sombre note after they surrendered the lead in a 1-1 draw against Greek giants, and bitter rivals, Olympiacos on Sunday.
They’ll be backed here on the south coast by a 1500-strong travelling contingent, but given they’ve seen their side lose their last six games against English opposition by a 16-3 aggregate scoreline, this may not be a fruitful journey.
It’s easy to see why those fans may travel with an element of cautious optimism though, as AEK have lost just seven of their last 19 away European games (W7, D5).
They do have a knack of stifling their opposition on the road too, especially in the UEFA Europa League (UEL), where their last 12 road trips (including qualifiers) have yielded an impressive eight clean sheets, albeit five of them came in 0-0 draws.
Players to watch: Brighton’s Danny Welbeck scored at the weekend and brings European experience to the squad.
He has five UEL goals to his name in the competition proper, four of which arrived after the break. AEK’s Sergio Araujo already has two European goals this term, both of which arrived on or beyond the 90th minute.
Hot streak: Brighton’s last nine competitive games saw both teams score.
