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• Hurzeler: Brighton need to 'work to get momentum' despite Man City win

  Brighton and Hove Albion boss Fabian Hurzeler believes his players need to rebuild their momentum following a two-week break after their 2-1 victory over Manchester City.

  The Seagulls came back from a goal down in dramatic fashion to inflict City's fourth successive defeat in all competitions last time out.

  Though the international break came at a bad time for his in-form team, Hurzeler refused to criticise the schedule ahead of their trip to the Vitality Stadium.

  "You always have to work to get momentum. It's always a new game and no matter if there's a break between games or not, the game starts from zero," he told a pre-match press conference.

  "You have to go into the game and do the things you can influence to the maximum.

  "You can't say 'we won against Manchester City and now the momentum will keep going', it's about fighting for momentum.

  "It's a new game, a different challenge and a really big challenge because Bournemouth are one of the strongest teams at the moment."

  Bournemouth have also beaten City recently, with the Cherries also triumphing over Arsenal and Southampton in their last three home matches.

  "They can play very intense, they run a lot, they have individual quality, they are in good shape. For me at the moment, they're one of the best teams in the league," Hurzeler said of the Cherries.

  Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, meanwhile, was keen to stress that his players need to keep their concentration against Brighton. The Cherries were beaten 3-2 away to Brentford last time out, despite having taken the lead twice.

  “You never want to lose the last game before the break because at the end you remember the last feeling. We will remember this week, the actions here against Brentford," he said.

  "We can prepare very well for the game against Brighton, that is going to be also very demanding.”

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Bournemouth – Evanilson

  Evanilson has scored four goals for Bournemouth since joining the club in August. He is tied with Antoine Semenyo as the club's top scorer, although his goals have come in one fewer appearance.

  The Brazilian forward has found the net in three successive matches and will become the first Bournemouth player since Callum Wilson in 2019 to score in four straight top-flight games should he do so on Saturday.

  Brighton – Danny Welbeck

  Danny Welbeck is Brighton's leading scorer so far this season, with six league goals – a total that includes three opening goals.

  He has scored two away goals so far in the current campaign, coming on the opening day at Everton and the only goal of the game at Newcastle United last month.

  MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

  Bournemouth come into this in 12th place in the Premier League on 15 points after 11 matches, having lost 3-2 to Brentford in their most recent game.

  At home, though, they have taken 10 points from five matches (three wins, one draw, one loss) and come into this with three successive victories at the Vitality Stadium. They have never won four Premier League home games in a row.

  Brighton have earned seven points from five away games (two wins, one draw and two losses) and, despite being six places above their hosts in the table, there are just four points between them.

  While Bournemouth have won four of their five Premier League home games against Brighton, Fabian Hurzeler's side come into this in good form having won three of their last five (one draw, one loss) Premier League matches – as many victories as they managed across their previous 16 league games (six draws, seven defeats).

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Bournemouth – 41.2%

  Draw – 25.1%

  Brighton – 33.7%

• Premier League MD11: Lucky winners and unlucky losers

  The final international break of 2024 is here, and we can safely say the Premier League is starting to take shape.

  Opta's supercomputer now has Liverpool, who are five points clear at the top following their win over Aston Villa on Saturday, as the favourites to go on and win the title.

  Manchester City lost a fourth straight game in all competitions as they went down 2-1 at Brighton, while Chelsea and Arsenal are third and fourth respectively after sharing the points.

  When assessing the underlying metrics, it looks like Sunday's draw at Stamford Bridge was a fair result, but that was not the case across the board this weekend.

  Here, we pick out the lucky winners and unlucky losers from matchday 11.

  Lucky winners: Manchester United

  Manchester United are now under new management, with Ruben Amorim officially starting as head coach on Monday. But interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy ensured he went out with a high as the Red Devils beat Leicester City 3-0 on Sunday.

  However, it is fair to say United were rather fortunate to net three times at Old Trafford, with the data suggesting they did not even create chances worthy of one goal, never mind three.

  United's expected goals (xG) was 0.69, the third-lowest total in the league this weekend and behind Leicester's 0.77.

  Bruno Fernandes scored one and set up another on his 250th appearance for the club, either side of Victor Kristiansen's own goal, but from 13 shots, United, who had only 17 touches in Leicester's box, really did not create much in the way of quality opportunities.

  Indeed, their attacking quality instead told, with Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho finishing well. At the other end, Leicester failed to make their moments count, despite hitting the target with five of their six shots.

  Spare a thought for Erik ten Hag, given when he was in charge, United's attack was underperforming. Now Amorim just needs to pick up where Van Nistelrooy left off...

  Unlucky losers: Manchester City

  Man City are suddenly the crisis club, having lost four straight games for the first time since August 2006. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, has lost four games in a row in all competitions for the very first time in his managerial career.

  Erling Haaland also lost a Premier League match in which he scored a goal for the very first time, having put City ahead before Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley clinched the points for Brighton.

   

  Brighton finished with 2.29 xG, so they did deserve to score at least twice. However, City can still consider themselves unfortunate, given their 2.22 xG was the third-highest of any team across the weekend.

  Their post-shot expected goals on target (xGoT) also rose to 2.98, showing that Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was on fine form.

  City also created five big chances, missing four of them, and hit the woodwork once. That being said, they conceded eight big chances, with Brighton letting them off for six of those, so it was not a good day at the office for Guardiola.

  Unlucky losers: Bournemouth

  If Man City were unfortunate, then the team to have created the highest xG (2.61) this past weekend – Bournemouth – can consider themselves hard done by.

  Andoni Iraola claimed his team were worthy of the three points against Brentford, despite the Cherries losing 3-2, and the underlying metrics suggest the Spaniard was fair in his assessment.

   

  Only Tottenham (35 in their loss against Ipswich Town) had more touches in the opponent's box than Bournemouth's 34 at the Gtech Community Stadium, but Iraola's side were made to pay for some dismal finishing.

  Their xGoT dropped to 1.68, while Brentford's rose from 1.48 xG to 1.84 xGoT – essentially, the level of finishing from Brentford's players increased the likelihood they would score, while Bournemouth's finishing was below what would have been anticipated based on the quality of chances they had. That is further backed up by the fact the Cherries only got three of their 15 attempts on target.

• Man City need to 'change things quickly' – Guardiola

  Pep Guardiola conceded Manchester City need to "change things quickly" after they suffered a fourth consecutive loss in all competitions against Brighton.

  It is the first time the Spaniard has lost four games in a row in his managerial career, while the last time City suffered four consecutive defeats was back in August 2006, under Stuart Pearce.

  Erling Haaland had given the visitors a first-half lead, but two quickfire goals from substitutes Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley turned the match on its head, with Brighton the better side in the second half.

  In fact, City have lost a Premier League game in which they led at half-time for the first time since May 2021, and that defeat also came away to Brighton.

  And Guardiola suggested his team, who have been rocked by injuries, are simply finding matters too tough.

  "We are not able to do 90 minutes right now," Guardiola told BBC Sport. "We played a really good first half and moments in the second half.

  "We lost again, so clean our heads, international break and hopefully our players come back fit.

  "We have to try and win games again. We were not able to sustain the rhythm in the second half. Four [defeats] in a row. We have to change things quickly.

  "The schedule becomes tough, but it is going to happen when the players come back. Maybe after seven years, winning six Premier Leagues, maybe one year another team deserve it. We'll see."

  City have conceded 10 goals during their losing streak, managing just four goals of their own in that time.

  The reigning Premier League champions have more tough games coming up, with Tottenham and Liverpool their next opponents in the top flight, and Kyle Walker believes the international break may have come at the right time.

  "There are slight moments that aren't rubbing off in our favour. Certain challenges we're arriving a little late for. That's the period we're going through. The break is coming at the right time," he said.

  "There are many reasons. It's form, it's how we're feeling on a day to day. It's tough. We've been fortunate to have success here in the last eight years. This is the time you show character and stick your boots on and go through the mud. Now we get to see the real characters and want to push forward and achieve something special.

  "We've never gone four games without a wi.  Still, it's tough to take. Everyone wants to turn it around."