The Premier League rolls into Sunday with two unbeaten sides meeting at the AmEx Stadium, where Brighton face off against Nottingham Forest.
Our football tipster, Shane O’Brien, has rolled up the cuffs and dived into the stats and form to find the three best bets. So, enough of the guff, let’s get into his Brighton v Nottingham Forest betting tips.
Brighton v Nottingham Forest tips
Under 2.5 goals
Brighton to have 18 or more shots
Over 6.5 cards
WHEN: Sunday, September 22nd, 14:00
WHERE: The AmEx Stadium, Brighton
TV: Sky Sports Main Event/Premier League
Under 2.5 goals
Both Brighton and Forest come into this game level on eight points after four games, with both sides playing wildly contrasting styles of football.
Forest, who so often struggled on their travels in their last two Premier League campaigns, have won both away games, recording back-to-back 1-0 victories over Southampton and Liverpool on the road.
Their performance at Anfield last weekend was a textbook away-day display, with Forest absorbing plenty of pressure and causing plenty of damage on the counter-attack.
Curiously, they have recorded back-to-back 1-1 draws at the City Ground this season in winnable fixtures against Bournemouth and Wolves, despite relying predominately on home form to avoid the drop in each of their last two campaigns.
This means that Forest have not yet been involved in a game with at least three goals this season. Their League Cup tie against Newcastle ended in a 1-1 draw.
On the other hand, Brighton started the season in thrilling fashion, opening their campaign with a dominant 3-0 at Goodison Park before scoring a 95th-minute winner to beat Manchester United.
They have since drawn consecutive games against Arsenal and Ipswich and struggled to break down the latter despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession and peppering the Ipswich goal with shots.
They are likely to meet similar resistance when Forest come to town on Sunday and it could be yet another low-scoring affair between the two sides.
Just one goal has been scored in this fixture over the past two seasons, with the sides playing out a goalless draw in the 2022/23 season and Brighton emerging 1-0 victors last March.
It could be a similar story on Sunday.
Brighton to have 18 or more shots
Brighton recorded 69% and attempted 21 shots in last week’s goalless draw against Ipswich, finding the target on six occasions.
On the other hand, Forest recorded just 30% possession in their win at Liverpool, facing 14 shots.
It is almost as if the two sides have provided a blueprint for how this game will pan out on Sunday.
Brighton will dominate the ball for large portions of the game and Forest will have to absorb plenty of pressure if they are to come away with a result.
The Seagulls have recorded 64% and 71% possession in their previous two home games against Forest, attempting ten shots last season and 19 in the previous campaign.
There is every chance that they will rack up a high number of shots on Sunday.
Over 6.5 cards
Brighton and Forest boast two of the better disciplinary records in the league at this early stage of the season.
Brighton’s record of eight bookings in four games is the second-best in the league, while Forest’s record of 11 bookings in four games leaves them in midtable in the disciplinary table.
However, they are still averaging five cards per game between them and showed last weekend that they are equally capable of collecting a considerable number of cards in a single game.
It is perhaps not surprising that Forest conceded four yellow cards at Anfield, given the nature of their victory and the need to dig in at times.
On the other hand, Brighton surprisingly picked up four bookings against Ipswich after committing 14 fouls despite dominating the ball and the territory.
Brighton received more than one booking for cynically stopping Ipswich’s counterattacks and will face an even more potent counterattack on Sunday afternoon, so there is every chance they will pick up a few more bookings.
They may also grow frustrated if Forest manage to stifle their attacking threat.
The sides shared eight yellow cards at the AmEx last season and it wouldn’t be surprising if they reached a similar number on Sunday.
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