Brighton vs Arsenal starting XI predicted as Georginio Rutter and Kaoru Mitoma decision made

Fabian Hurzeler is taking a “glass half full” view of Brighton’s record in the Premier League this season.

The Seagulls start 2025 with Saturday’s home clash against Arsenal having gone seven matches without a victory to end 2024.

Five of those games ended in draws, including each of the last three, and they have drawn nine times during their league campaign so far this term, more than any other top-flight team.

Lying 10th in the table, they have also only suffered four defeats in their 19 league fixtures following Hurzeler’s arrival as boss during the summer, a figure only bettered by leaders Liverpool (one) and second-placed Arsenal (two).

The German, whose side held Arsenal 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium in August, said: “You can say we are not able to win games against these teams, or on the other perspective you can say we are really difficult to beat, because in the end I think there are only one or two teams in the league with fewer losses than we have.

“So I think you always can see it from that or that perspective, and in the end I’m a very positive guy, so I see that the glass is half full, and I see more the positive things than the negative things in general in my life.

Here’s how Hurzeler’s team could line-up against the Gunners, including bold decisions on Georginio Rutter and Kaoru Mitoma, both of whom were rested for the 2-2 draw at Aston Villa last time out…

Predicted XI: Bart Verbruggen; Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk, Jan Paul van Hecke, Pervis Estupinan; Carlos Baleba, Matt O’Riley; Yankuba Minteh, Georgino Rutter, Kaoru Mitoma, Joao Pedro.

Asked what they had to do to try to get a positive result against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who are on a three-match winning run in the league, Hurzeler said: “Push our limits in every phase of the game, continue to play with courage, continue to play intense.

“I think that’s what we showed. The last games of course the results were not good but in the end we showed really good performances.

“We showed we are able to beat every team in this league, we already proved it. So I think it’s very important we play with our identity.

“Our identity means to play intense. If we don’t play intense we have no chance against Arsenal. If we don’t play with courage in possession we have no chance.

“I think these two things are the main thing, and of course another big part of the game are set-pieces. When you see how much danger they can create by a set-piece, then we have to take care of these things.

“So these three things are very important for the game.”