Burnley vs. Brighton: Danny Welbeck out to break all-time Premier League goalscoring record for the Seagulls

Danny Welbeck will be looking to break an all-time Premier League goalscoring record for Brighton & Hove Albion when they travel to Turf Moor to face Burnley on Saturday afternoon.

The Seagulls striker is still going strong at 35 years of age and is the club’s top scorer in all competitions this season with 13 goals in 33 appearances.

Twelve of those goals have been netted in the Premier League, including a brace in Brighton’s 2-1 home victory over Liverpool prior to the international break.

Welbeck now has Burnley in his sights as he attempts to become Brighton’s most prolific Premier League striker in a single campaign; he currently sits just one goal behind Glenn Murray’s 2018-19 record of 13, needing one goal to draw level and two or more goals to claim the record outright.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler was asked if the three-week break from club football has benefitted Welbeck, who was snubbed again by England boss Thomas Tuchel.

Hurzeler said: “He seems to be in a very good place. Very relaxed, very focused, very sharp. He knows that he only can control certain things, and what he can control is his performances on the pitch and how he behaves beside the pitch.

“Therefore, he keeps focusing on these controllables, and then we see what happens in the next week.”

Welbeck is a strong contender to start for Brighton against Burnley, but the Seagulls will have to cope without captain Lewis Dunk, who will serve a two-match suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

Brighton boss Hurzeler taking positives from Dunk suspension

Discussing the absence of Dunk and what that means for his team, Hurzeler said: “We have other leaders who can solve it on the pitch and beside the pitch. Regarding me, we already had a situation against Brentford where my team and my staff did an incredible job.

"Regarding Lewis, of course he played unbelievably well in the last weeks, but we have shown we have a lot of options to replace him. Not just options, really good options to replace him. Therefore, we are quite confident that the team are strong enough to handle these things.

"I will give them a lot of responsibility on the pitch, and they have proved it in the season that they can handle it. I am confident they can manage it on and off the pitch."

In Dunk’s absence, Olivier Boscagli is seemingly the most likely candidate to deputise at centre-back alongside Jan Paul van Hecke, who is set to make his 100th Premier League appearance.

Hurzeler: “You can't underestimate any team in this league”

Sitting 10th in the Premier League table, Brighton have won four of their last five matches (L1) and could climb into the top seven if they beat 19th-placed Burnley this weekend.

On the challenge facing his Seagulls side against a relegation-threatened Clarets outfit, Hurzeler said: "Burnley is a team fighting for relegation but they proved in the last weeks that they can win against every team in the league.

“They have individual qualities, they have shown really good togetherness, they have shown, especially in the last games, really good performances, so you can't underestimate any team in this league.

"It is a game where we have to reach our limits, our standards, our highest levels if you want to beat them."

After beating Burnley 2-0 in the reverse fixture at the Amex Stadium in January, Brighton are looking to complete the Premier League double over the Clarets for the very first time, last doing so in any division in the 2012-13 Championship season.