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Kieran King

Marcelo Bielsa has already warned Leeds United players about Brighton

Leeds United will be looking to record their first-ever Premier League win over Brighton & Hove Albion when they make the trip to the AMEX Stadium on Saturday.

The Seagulls did the double over the Whites last season, winning 1-0 at Elland Road before securing a 2-0 success in this fixture back in May.

Marcelo Bielsa's side struggled to cope with Brighton's press and shape which could prove to be an issue this weekend should they play the same way.

Brighton effectively utilised a 3-4-3 formation when pressing them in their own half and it forced Leeds to make mistakes and errors in dangerous areas.

Neal Maupay, Danny Welbeck, and Leandro Trossard were the architects of this as they closed down the back-line quickly, while Pascal Gross and Yves Bissouma would push up in midfield as well.

On the flanks, Ezgjan Alioski struggled to deal with Joel Veltman's energy and Dan Burn did the same on the opposite flank to right-back Luke Ayling, but many of Brighton's players would switch markers when necessary.

Tactically, it was a fascinating battle as when Leeds got into Brighton's half, Potter's men would retreat and pose a 5-4-1 riddle, providing a deep defensive block that was hard to break down.

Those small tweaks were a key theme of the fixture last season, but Bielsa already knows how Brighton play and is well aware of the threat that Potter's men pose.

Following the game against Brighton last term, Bielsa said: "The team that he manages has a lot of variance, they attack and defend in different manners, they are a team that manage the ball well and recover the ball well too.

"The game was hard with the height of their centre-backs. We couldn't avoid them initiating the play nor could we overcome them trying to get in behind."

In both games Brighton restricted Leeds to very few chances and stopped them from playing their natural, all-out attacking game.

Bielsa will be looking to ensure that this changes when they face the Seagulls on Saturday as they seek just a second Premier League away win of the campaign.

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