Brighton and Hove Albion vs Nottingham Forest: Can struggling Brighton turn their form around against relegation threatened Forest

Nottingham Forest head to the AMEX stadium this weekend to face Brighton and Hove Albion in match week 28 of the 25/26 Premier League season.

The seagulls head into the game 14th in the table having only one win in their last six games, a 2-0 win away at Brentford which they achieved last weekend. They will be hoping to build off this to try and take all three points from a relegation threatened Forest. Similarly to Brighton, Forest’s only win in their last 6 Premier League games was a 2-0 away win at Brentford. 

The visitors find themselves sitting on 27 points which sees them just 2 points above the drop zone in 17th. They are also on their 4th manager of the season, which is a joint record in the Premier League, Vitor Pereira joined the club on the 15th of February following the sacking of Sean Dyche, this game will be the Portuguese’s second Premier League game in charge. 

Brighton secured a 2-0 win in the reverse of this fixture in The City Ground back on the 30th of November 2025, thanks to goals from Maxim De Cuyper and Stefanos Tzimas. The two side have only faced each other seven times in the Premier League with four of these going the way of the seagulls, two being won by Forest and two ending in a draw. With a standout game being when Forest smashed the seagulls 7-0 to record their biggest Premier League win ever. 

Forest head into the game off the back progressing through to the round of 16 in the Europa league 4-2 on aggregate despite losing 2-1 at home against Fenerbahçe mid-week. They have had some injury issues this season and heading into game week 28 it is no different. The Tricky Trees will have to deal without regular starting goalkeeper Mats Sels, a knee injury for both Nicolo Savona and Willy Bolly means both defenders will be absent as well as last season’s top goal score Chris Wood is also set to miss the game. 

Injuries do not seem to be a concern for the visitors heading into this fixture with only Solly March and Yasin Ayari being the players absent through injury. Fabian Hurzeler spoke in his pre-match press conference about Ayari saying, “If he handles the physical challenges well, he will absolutely be an option for the weekend.” He also went on the say “Beyond Yasin, we have a clean bill of health regarding injuries.”

Both of these sides have not had the season they would have expected all the way back in August on gameweek 1, with the sides finishing 7th and 8th last season. A win will help Forests in their relegation scrap with West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur. Then for Brighton a win will all but secure their place in the topflight taking them 12 points clear of the drop zone if West Ham loose against Liverpool. 

Brighton predicted Lineup:

Bart Verbruggen, Ferdi Kadioglu, Lewis Dunk, Jan Paul Van Hecke, Maxim De Cruyper, Pascal Gross, Jack Hinshelwood, James Milner, Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma, Danny Welbeck.

Nottingham Forest Lineup:

Stefan Ortega, Ola Aina, Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic, Neco Williams, Nicolas Dominguez, Morgan Gibbs-White, Elliot Anderson, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Igor Jesus, Omari Hutchinson.