Europa League ambitions on the line as improving Ajax host Brighton

Premier League side Brighton visit Ajax on Thursday for a key Europa League group game that will provide a litmus test for the troubled Amsterdam club's mini revival.

The Seagulls were routine winners when the sides met two weeks ago at the Amex Stadium on England’s south coast, Ajax's 2-0 defeat coming just days after the Dutch giants had relieved beleaguered coach Maurice Steijn of his duties.

A 5-2 trouncing by bitter rivals PSV Eindhoven swiftly followed, sending Ajax to the foot of the Eredivisie after losing five league games in a row for the first time in their history, and hastening the appointment of former player John van't Schip as Steijn’s successor.

The former winger, a popular figure from the teams of the 1980s and 90s, has so far said all the right things, namely that they must get back to playing in the style of an Ajax team and that unity is essential if the season is to be salvaged in any meaningful way.

“I can’t assess how things were before my arrival, but we want to train and play in a different way,” Van't Schip said last week. “With high intensity, pressing quickly and winning the ball back. These may sound like cliches but they are part of the Ajax style.”

Two victories, albeit in kind domestic fixtures against Volendam and Heerenveen, have certainly lifted the mood. Summer signing Chuba Akpom, previously without a goal in eight matches, scored three times across both games and spoke candidly about the change in atmosphere since Van’t Schip’s arrival.

"I've been in a hotel room by myself, I've not been playing, and I have kind of felt like I'm alone here but this week I have felt back to my normal self in my apartment,” said the former Arsenal and Middlesbrough striker. “The manager came and spoke