Lincoln City vs Brighton Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

This is one of the venues where neutrals at least will be hoping to see a bit of cup magic on Saturday. Since the end of World War 2, only seven non-league sides have made the 5th Round of the FA Cup which puts into perspective what Lincoln are hoping to achieve here. Few can have been as well equipped to do so as the current National League leaders but this will be a real step up in class for them and an away win looks the most likely outcome.

Brighton have proved in the Championship over the past 18 months that they are a side capable of winning pretty but also winning ugly and they may need a slice of the latter here. Chris Hughton is likely to ring the changes with promotion to the Premier League the priority and a midweek game at fellow promotion hopefuls Huddersfield to come. However, with that game now taking place on Thursday, he can probably afford to field a few more of his regular starters.

In any case Brighton showed in the last round that they have strength in depth when they rotated their side and still comfortably saw off MK Dons at the Amex. Top scorer Glenn Murray may again sit this one out so Tomer Hemed, who scored in that match, should get another start. The Israeli is in good form with 3 goals in his last 5 appearances and he netted the only goal in their midweek win over Cardiff. Therefore, backing Hemed to score anytime at 6/4 looks like a decent punt here as the visitors should create the better chances.

Lincoln deservedly saw off Championship Ipswich over 180 minutes in the last round but Brighton are likely to pose a much sterner test and if they fail to produce a similar level of performance, they will get turned over. They will need to be much better than they were in midweek when they were surprisingly beaten 3-0 at Barrow. Having lost just once in 23 games prior to that, it would have come as a bitter blow and clearly it’s far from the ideal preparation for this game.

Their overall season may have been excellent but at the end of the day, this game sees the side 93rd in the English football pyramid against the highest ranked side outside of the Premier League. That is still a huge gulf in class to make up and they are up against a Brighton side that is just in the knack of winning football matches. They’ve won 8 of their last 9 in all competitions and 13 of their last 16 and backing Brighton to win at 4/6 could be the best bet here.