Brighton v Nottingham Forest: Back Trossard to make vital contribution

• Brighton's unappealing home record
• Forest's away failures
• Trossard has been pivotal for Albion

Brighton fail to fire

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi said his Seagulls side lacked a finishing touch as they went down 2-0 at Brentford on Friday night.

Albion created plenty of promising situations - most notably a tame Danny Welbeck header and Joel Veltman's close-range shot from a corner - but were sunk by an Ivan Toney double and denied by some good David Raya saves.

There was an absence of the spark that saw the Seasiders score three at Anfield earlier this month, and to underline the point, Brighton had more than 70% possession and registered 21 shots, but aside from Adam Lallana's late header, rarely looked like making the breakthrough. Whereas Brentford scored twice from their three efforts on-target.

Speaking post-match, De Zerbi said: "I think we played a good game but, if you want to win the game, you have to score. We had a lot of potential chances, many shots on goal, the last pass, the cross. Against Tottenham it was the same, a lot of shots but we didn't score. We made mistakes about shooting, about the last pass, about crosses. We have to improve."

Brighton are able to select from a largely full squad on Tuesday night.

Forest fall short at Molineux

Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper insists morale isn't an issue, despite the Tricky Trees propping up the Premier League standings.

After a positive display in a deserved draw with Aston Villa, the Reds struggled to get going against Wolves at the weekend, putting in a largely lacklustre effort that was settled by Ruben Neves' penalty in a 1-0 away defeat.

The Molineux reverse means Forest are without a win in eight league games, collecting only five points from their first 10 fixtures.

Post-match, Cooper admitted it was a disappointed dressing room but he remains defiant that there is enough fighting spirit in the side to overturn a dismal run of form.

Cooper said: "I wouldn't say the mood is buoyant. But at the same time, I wouldn't say it's really low. The training ground is a hard-working place and there's a committed group of lads. Nobody is hiding from this. When teams are on bad runs, sometimes you can see players disappear a little bit. There's no sign of that."

Omar Richards, Moussa Niakhate and Jack Colback all remain sidelined for the visitors.

Albion strong odds-on favourites

Brighton and Nottingham Forest are meeting for the first time in five years. The two teams traded 3-0 home triumphs during the 2016/17 Championship campaign, and head-to-heads have been competitive across this century with Albion enjoying slight W8-D6-L6 supremacy across their 20 tussles in that recent sample, including W5-D2-L3 as hosts.

Brighton 1.454/9 have suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats for the first time since March with the Seasiders failing to score in both losses to Tottenham and Brentford.

Albion's long-term record at The Amex is also off-putting for odds-on backers with the hosts having pocketed top honours just seven times in 23 attempts since the start of last season.

Nottingham Forest 9.008/1 head south with a solitary point and a sole goal to their name in five previous Premier League road trips this term..

The Tricky Trees have at least stemmed the defensive bleeding of late, leaking only twice in their most recent two encounters. Still, Steve Cooper's troops are rating as a bottom-three outfit on Expected Points (xP).

Trossard can make vital contribution

Brighton long-term are bound to be a goal-backers haven under Roberto De Zerbi, but with Albion still finding their range under the adventurous Italian, plus Nottingham Forest's improved defensive displays, I'm happy to leave the traditional goal markets alone.

If pushed, the 2.0811/10 on Under 2.5 Goals would be the preferred angle of attack.

Instead, the 2.1011/10 available on the Sportsbook for Leandro Trossard to Score or Assist is well worthy of an interest.

The versatile Belgian has already contributed five goals and an assist in nine starts this season, whilst averaging an impressive 0.43 combined Expected Goals (xG) and Expected Assists (xA) figure per-90 minutes.

Those looking for a bigger-priced option might be keen to follow the 3.6013/5 on Brighton Double Chance, Under 3.5 Goals and Trossard to Score or Assist.