Saturday 20th December 2025
Brighton & Hove Albion v Sunderland – Premier League
Stadium of Light Kick-Off: 15:00
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is unavailable.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter feed (@RokerReport) and check out the player ratings after the full-time whistle at
www.RokerReport.sbnation.com!
The build-up…
Last week was huge. Not only did we beat the visitors, but we seemingly drew a line in the sand in terms of where we’ve been. Don’t get me
wrong, we’ll not forget the hurt and the pain of the club’s worst period in its existence, but last week we removed a lot of those demons.
But – and there has to be a ‘but’ unfortunately – it’s always good to back up a result like last week with another good result. No doubt Regis Le Bris’ attention went straight to our trip to Brighton as soon as the flash went off for the on-pitch photo.
This is also what we’ve preparing ourselves for squad-wise with the loss of the players heading for AFCON. As the manager stated in his press conference, this will be a different Sunderland side. It arguably won’t be felt more than at the back through losing the form of Reinildo Mandava, and in midfield with the loss of Noah Sadiki.
But, if you listen to our preview podcast today, or view the Sunderland forums etc, everyone has a different view on how to replace them, which means we have options. I will leave the predicting of what Regis Le Bris will do to the lads on the podcast and Martin’s stab at the matchday XI today on the site – but there will be several changes.
It’s the final fixture before the Christmas festivities, and although Santa came early last week, it would help the Christmas dinner go down a bit easier if we take all three points this afternoon.
We don’t meet Brighton too often. For example, if we include friendlies, the last six previous meetings between the two sides have all come at different stadiums.
This is our first league meeting at what is now the Amex Stadium, and we’ve only played them once in the league in Brighton so far this century, where we were beaten 2-1. Our last league win against them at their place was in November 198,9 when we came from behind to win 2-1 with goals from Marco Gabbiadini and Gary Owers.
To go even further back, the last time we took them on in the top flight at the Goldstone ground was September 1982, and they came from two-down to win 3-2, with Stan Cummins and Ally McCoist scoring for the Lads, but the modern-day Brighton is very different.
For a start, they have a manager who is a decade younger than me, which doesn’t seem right. They’ve also finished in the top ten of the Premier League in three out of the last four seasons, but pundits and analysts insist that at some point the bubble will burst. However, Brighton just keeps getting the recruitment right on and off the pitch. It’s their ninth season in the top flight, and they have had only four different managers.
It’s not a bad start as they sit tenth and three points behind us, but there was a bit of unrest in their previous home game that ended in a 1-1 draw against West Ham United, which provides plenty of optimism ahead of kick-off today.
The betting…
The bookies have the Lads at 4/1 to win the game, while Brighton are priced at 13/20, and the draw is 14/5.
Head to head… in Brighton
(All competitions)
- Sunderland wins: 3
- Draws: 3
- Brighton wins: 12
- Sunderland goals: 21
- Brighton goals: 34
Last time we met… at the Amex Stadium
Tuesday 23rd August 2011
League Cup – 2nd Round
Brighton 1-0 Sunderland (aet)
[Mackail-Smith 96’]
Sunderland: Westwood, Elmohamady, Richardson, Cattermole (Wickham), Ferdinand, Brown, Larsson, Colback, Sessegnon, Gardner (Gyan), Vaughan (Ji) Substitutes not used: Mignolet, Laing, Bramble, Cook
Brighton: Ankergren, Calderon, Painter, Harley (Lua Lua), Greer (Vincelot (Taricco)), Dunk, Navarro, Bridcutt, Noone, Mackail-Smith, Barnes Substitutes not used: Brezovan, Sparrow, Dicker, Barker
Attendance: 17,090
Prediction…
Brighton 0-1 Sunderland
I’m never comfortable predicting we’ll win because it never seems to happen – but I think it will be tight and the players coming in will be up for it this afternoon.
