Brighton’s souring season in the Premier League has come to a surprise for many since the departure of their head coach early in the season. Graham Potter left in September to coach Chelsea, leaving the team without a coach. This ended up benefiting Brighton more as they hired Roberto De Zerbi, who changed the team around.
Brighton are currently in sixth place in the Premier League table, five points behind Tottenham with two games in hand. If Brighton’s souring season continues, they could finish in fifth and qualify for the Europa League for the first time. They are currently undefeated in four straight league matches, with just two loses seven games.
With 10 wins thus far, they only need two more wins to match their total from last season. They have also scored 38 goals, which is the fourth most in the league. Last season the team finished in ninth place, a top 10 finish for the first time since 2017. Prior, Brighton have only been a bottom half team, fighting to stay in the Premier League each year.
However, Brighton lost a huge piece of hardware with forward Leandro Trossard leaving the club for Arsenal. He produced seven goals and two assists in the league with Brighton. Now, the team will have to rely on the German Pascal Gross. He already has six goals and three assists thus far with a total of 128 crosses.
They also have World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister, who had a breakout tournament that saw him lift the glorious trophy at just the age of 24. He has five goals from the defensive midfield with 46 tackles (27 won), averaging now 2.7 tackles a match. Robert Sanchez has also done a fair job in the net this season. The Spaniard who spent the World Cup as the backup goalkeeper for Spain, has a total of six clean sheets and two in the last three games.
So why is Brighton souring this season?
When head coach De Zerbi took over, he implemented a completely different style of play that benefited the team. He created a better environment and enhanced the chemistry on the team. The Italian’ style of play is heavy on beginning plays with the center backs. Lewis Dunk and Levi Colwill’s main roles besides anchoring the defense is to lure the opponents close to their side of the field, then exploding in counter attacks and one-v-one situations.
From there is where Mac Allister and Ecuadorian Moises Caicedo come into play, beating defenders and taking the ball up the field to the attack. Despite more work to be done in the back, this has made Brighton’s attack very dangerous and is a reason why they have scored so many goals in the league thus far.
Brighton are also still in the FA Cup after defeating defending champions Liverpool 2-1. They will face Stoke City next in round five of the tournament. They have only appeared in one FA Cup final in history but have never won it. With Brighton’s souring season continuing, they have plenty to look forward to with three months left in the campaign, with their goal to clinch a spot in a European competition for the first time in history.
