Overview
In the 2025-2026 season, Sunderland has 9 more matches and all belong to the Premier League. They just suffered a shameful defeat with a score of 0-1 away from Port Vale - the team currently at the bottom of EFL League One - in the 5th round of the FA Cup last weekend.
Sunderland has had many difficulties in finding positive results in recent weeks. However, they ended their 4-match winless streak in the Premier League with a 1-0 victory over Leeds United at Elland Road earlier this month, thanks to a penalty in the second half from Habib Diarra.
Head coach Regis Le Bris hopes his players will quickly regain their desire and fighting spirit - factors that were missing in the defeat against Port Vale. They are aiming to take advantage of the 40-point milestone in the Premier League to create momentum for the breakthrough at the end of the season to compete for a European cup spot.
Currently ranked 11th in the rankings and 4 points behind Brentford in seventh place, Sunderland has only scored 10 goals in the Premier League in 2026 - only more than Aston Villa (9 goals). Meanwhile, only Burnley (-9) and Tottenham Hotspur (-11) have worse goal differences than "Black Cats" (-6) in the same period.
Sunderland has lost their last 2 home games in the Premier League after being undefeated in the first 12 matches of the season (7 wins, 5 draws). However, they have reason to be confident when hosting Brighton. Sunderland has won all five of their last home games against Brighton in this league and is undefeated in their last nine encounters (7 wins, 2 draws) since the 1-2 defeat in April 1981.
Meanwhile, Brighton could not extend their two-match winning streak against Brentford (2-0) and Nottingham Forest (2-1), when they lost 0-1 at home to league leaders Arsenal in the middle of last week.
Head coach Fabian Hurzeler expressed dissatisfaction with Arsenal's time-wasting approach, saying that Brighton was the only team trying to play football properly in that match. The "Turtle" controlled the ball 60% and launched three times more shots than the opponent, but still suffered their 10th defeat in the Premier League this season.
Brighton's recent matches have also tended to have fewer goals. In 15 Premier League matches since the 3-4 defeat to Aston Villa in early December, none of their matches have had more than 2 goals for each team. In fact, Brighton is the team with the lowest total goals in this period with 30 goals (14 goals scored, 16 goals conceded).
Brighton is currently 14th in the Premier League table, 11 points ahead of the relegation group but 7 points behind seventh place. Hurzeler's team needs to maintain stable form in the final stage of the season if they want to nurture hopes of winning a ticket to European cups.
Despite being unbeaten in the last 11 Premier League matches against newly promoted teams (5 wins, 6 draws), Brighton has a poor record against Sunderland. The "Turtle" has only won one of their last eight encounters with Sunderland (2 draws, 5 losses). That was a 2-1 home victory in the Championship in February 2005.
Personnel situation
Sunderland will be missing a series of players due to injuries in the upcoming match. Robin Roefs and Romaine Mundle (both hamstring injuries), Nordi Mukiele (calf), Reinildo Mandava and Bertrand Traore (knee) and Jocelin Ta Bi (ankle) are definitely absent. Meanwhile, Brian Brobbey (arm) and Dennis Cirkin (hamstring) will be physically tested before kick-off.
On Brighton's side, Stefanos Tzimas and Adam Webster (both knee injuries) are definitely absent. In addition, Kaoru Mitoma (ankle), Lewis Dunk (knee) and Solly March are still uncertain to play and need further evaluation.
Expected lineup:
Ellborg, Geertruida, Ballard, Alderete, Hume, Xhaka, Sadiki, Talbi, Diarra, Le Fee, Mayenda.
Verbruggen, Wieffer, Dunk, Van Hecke, Kadioglu, Ayari, Baleba, Gomez, Gross, Minteh, Welbeck.
The match between Sunderland and Brighton takes place at 10:00 PM on March 14th (Vietnam time).
