Brighton kick off their Europa Conference League campaign on Thursday night with a home fixture against little-known Lithuanian outfit Kauno Žalgiris.
The Green-Whites won the top flight title last season but lost out in qualifying for both the Champions League and Europa League, having to make do with a spot in the group stages of Europe’s third club competition.
They’ve certainly been handed a stern test on matchday one against a Seagulls side that are in stellar form this term. Fabian Hurzeler’s side have lost just once in nine games – a bonkers 4-3 defeat to Chelsea in the Premier League. They’re currently on a four-game winning streak that includes a 5-0 tonking of Coventry and wins over Manchester United and, most impressively, their evisceration of champions Arsenal just before the international break.
They backed that up with a solid win at Sunderland over the weekend and despite going into Thursday’s game full of confidence, their manager isn’t taking their opponents lightly.
“We expect to face a team with a lot of belief and confidence because they are doing well in their league and they have also won a domestic cup,” Hurzeler said.
“We expect them to defend well in a low block and also to be good in transition. They won’t come to sit back, they will try to play out from the back.”
Whilst Brighton are riding the crest of a wave right now, the one area they would probably like to improve is regarding injuries. Pascal Struijk misses out owing to a fresh knock whilst Jack Hinshelwood (ankle) is back in contention and although Mats Wieffer (knee) is “getting closer”, this game comes too soon for him.
Hurzeler added: “We try to take care of the health from players. It’s the same with Pascal. He had some issues in the international break, he played now 60 minutes against Sunderland and now we try to manage him. Therefore tomorrow he won’t be available, but hopefully he will be back then end of the week for Palace (on Sunday).”
Femi Azeez, Zadok Yohanna and Kaoru Mitoma are among the other players unavailable for this encounter – Brighton’s first European home game since a memorable 1-0 win over Italian giants Roma back in March 2024. Despite Danny Welbeck’s goal sealing a famous win that night, Brighton ultimately lost 4-1 on aggregate.
