Preview: Dunk set for 500th Albion appearence – Brighton vs Aston Villa

Lewis Dunk will make his 500th appearance for Brighton against Aston Villa. Fabian Hurzeler praised Dunk as a leader while stressing the need for a better performance after a 3-0 defeat to Villa last time out. Brighton seek to extend their unbeaten home run to 11 games.

INMR

December 3, 2025

2–3 minutes

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Lewis Dunk is set to make his 500th appearance for Brighton tonight as his side face Aston Villa. The Seagulls have been in fine form of late, especially at the Amex, so Dunk will be hoping to mark the occasion with a fourth consecutive home victory.

Fabian Hurzeler piled praise on the captain, he said: “He deserves that number of appearances…He’s my skipper. He’s my leader.”

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A result for the Albion will also see them extend their unbeaten home run to 11 matches, but Aston Villa will certainly be a challenge. The visitors have enjoyed great success at the Amex in recent years, winning three of their last four matches there.

Brighton have only beat Villa twice in 16 attempts and lost heavily in this exact fixture last season. Fabian Hurzeler said his side’s 3-0 defeat in April must be “cleaned up” with a more mature performance this time.

Hurzeler said: “We have to do it better than last time…I need players with big self-confidence, big belief…We’ve proved we can beat every team in the league.”

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Unai Emery’s side beat Brighton at the Amex back in April, thanks to three second half goals from Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen.

Both sides are coming into the match off the back of victory’s at the weekend. The hosts beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 on Sunday, thanks to goals from Maxim De Cuyper and Stefanos Tzimas.

Meanwhile, Villa beat Wolves 1-0 as Boubacar Kamara scored a long-range winner. Nine of Villa’s last 16 goals have come from outside the penalty area. That threat from distance has been pin-pointed by Hurzeler, who said his side must “prevent shots from outside the box”.

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Both Tyrone Mings and Ross Barkley will miss this one for Villa and Brighton’s Georginio Rutter is being monitored after coming off with a head injury against Forest. However, Hurzeler confirmed Rutter does not have a concussion.

Kaoru Mitoma is also very close to a return and could feature in the match day squad after training on Monday and Tuesday.

Brighton are currently two points behind Villa but would leapfrog them with a win this evening. Kick-off is at 7:30pm.