Premier League Preview: Brighton and Hove Albion

Blog written by ad_wilkin
Published: 13th September 2024 11:57

This could have been a very different preview if Brighton had got their way over the summer after the departure of Roberto De Zerbi.

Kieran McKenna was a wanted man and Brighton submitted the most concrete offer for the Ipswich boss. Fortunately, the Northern Irishman remains at the helm at Portman Road and Brighton instead turned to Fabian Hürzeler.

The German has a similar profile to McKenna, ending his professional playing career at the age of 23 having largely featured for reserve sides and opted to pursue coaching from an early age.

He has had involvement with the German national team at U18 and U20 levels as well as playing for and managing German fifth-tier side FC Pipinsreid.

In 2020 he became assistant manager at St Pauli and was soon appointed as head coach there on an interim basis in 2022 and was given the job permanently not long after.

Last season he won the 2.Bundesliga with the Hamburg-based club achieving to promotion to the Bundesliga and ending a 12-year spell outside the top flight.

His move to Brighton makes him the youngest manager in Premier League history at the age of just 31.

<h1>Goalkeepers</h1>

One of the criticisms of De Zerbi last year was his rotation of goalkeepers Jason Steele and Bart Verbruggen with Steele starting 22 games and Verbruggen 27.

Verbruggen is the player with the highest ceiling of the two and the 21-year-old has already claimed the number one spot for the Netherlands and had an excellent Euros.

That’s in contrast to his time at Brighton as he finished on –2.6 goals prevented last season. However, Steele was even worse in that metric, among the worst in the league with –6.3 goals prevented.

Verbruggen also outperformed Steele in terms of save percentage, saving 72.5% of shots faced (fifth highest in the league) to Steele’s 58% (second lowest in the league).

Steele played in all of Brighton’s pre-season games but this one looks to be an easy choice for Hürzeler to make and Verbruggen looks to be the number one now he’s up to speed.

<h1>Defenders</h1>

Hürzeler switched between a back three and a back four throughout pre-season but looks to have now settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation

Central to that will be Lewis Dunk. Brighton’s captain is crucial not only to how Brighton defend but also how they play in possession. He completed more passes than any other defender in the league last season with 2,977 but he also made the most carries as he looked to find the right openings to play his passes through.

Dunk made England’s Euro’ squad but wasn’t used at all throughout the tournament.

Alongside him the most last season was the emergence of Dutchman Jan Paul Van Hecke. The 24-year-old finally became a mainstay in the side following loan spells at SC Heerenveen and Blackburn Rovers.

He started 26 games last season and although not quite hitting the same metrics as Dunk, was still composed on the ball and got stuck in defending with 47 tackles, 49 blocks and 30 interceptions.

Both defenders are already high on the passing charts after three games.

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In terms of minutes from last season next in the list are Joel Veltman and Igor Julio. Twenty-six-year-old Brazilian Igor provides left-footed balance to the side and was slowly integrated last season having been signed from Fiorentina.

He covered at both centre-back and left-back. He’s an experienced defender with 104 appearances in Serie A and will be looking to build on last season under a new manger.

Veltman is the third Dutchman in this backline alongside Van Hecke and Verbruggen and is the most experienced. He has 139 appearances under the belt from Brighton in addition to 28 caps for his country.

He isn’t the tallest of central defenders but found his niche in the same hybrid centre-back/right-back role that Kieran McKenna has implemented at Town. He’s lucky not to be suspended for this one having leathered Declan Rice whilst trying to take a quick free-kick last time out but may miss out due to injury.

Someone who may benefit from the introduction of a new manager is Adam Webster. The former Town defender wasn't favoured by De Zerbi and last seasons 15 appearances were his lowest in any of the seasons that he’d been at Brighton. He’s been given a chance with some pre-season appearances but whether that converts to more Premier League gametime this coming season remains to be seen.

Now we move on to the players vying for the full-back or wing-back spots. Tariq Lamptey will be looking for more regular game time following his injury come back last season.

At 23 years old he still has time on his side as he tries to replicate his form from a couple of seasons ago. On his side is his versatility and ability to cover both left and right sides.

Fitting into the left-back role is solid Ecuadorian Pervis Estupinan. He’ll be going into his third Premier League season but struggled a bit last season with muscle problems. He was the main choice there in 2022/23 with 31 starts and provides that solid defensive base on the left-hand side.

It’s a bit of surprise that 20-year-old wonderkid Valentin Barco has been allowed to go out on loan with Estupinan still struggling but midfielder Jack Hinshelwood has been chosen to fill in at left-back ahead of him.

The England U19 international played 12 games last season at right-back but his progress was stopped by a broken foot. He’s seized his chance this season and started every Premier League game so far.

Ferdi Kadioglu was a late addition to the Brighton backline in the transfer window, signing from Turkish side Fenerbahce. He made 37 appearances in the Superlig last season, largely at left-back although he can also cover the right hand side and featured throughout Turkey’s Euros campaign.

With Hinshelwood struggling on the left-hand side, it’s possible that Kadioglu could replace him sooner rather than later.

<h1>Midfielders</h1>

Brighton’s midfield is full of versatile players one of whom is Solly March, who has had a tremendous career at the club but suffered a long-term knee injury that cut last season short, which is still keeping him.

His absence will have been felt less due to the free transfer signing of Mr Versatility himself James Milner. With 634 Premier League appearances to his name, the former Leeds, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Liverpool man will be hoping to overthrow Gareth Barry (653) at the top of the pile this season.

He played 15 Premier League games last year, largely in a midfield three but has been used at left-back by Hürzeler in pre-season, a role he previously filled for Liverpool and has started the season in a midfield two. He had to come off after 16 minutes against Arsenal with a hamstring issue so is a doubt for this one.

With his age and the release of Adam Lallana at the end of last season, the Seagulls have move to strengthen that midfield area with the signing of Mats Wieffer.

The Dutchman started alongside Milner in the first game of the season against Everton, contributing an assist on his debut but unfortunately picked a minor knock that kept him out of the Manchester United match.

The other competition in that area is Carols Baleba. The 20-year-old Cameroonian signed from French side Lille in 2023 and was slowly integrated last season with 27 appearances (15 starts) He made more tackles (42) and interceptions (18) than Billy Gilmour, who was his competition last season but has been sold to Napoli.

Yasan Ayari, who had two loans spells at Coventry and Blackburn last season, has also seen minutes off the bench, replacing Milner in the Arsenal match. With the sale of Gilmour and the injury to new signing from Celtic, Matt O’Riley, nine minutes into his debut against Crawley, the Swede could see more game time than he was anticipating.

<h1>Attackers</h1>

Brighton have a whole host of attacking talent but it’s been the same four players that have been chosen for the first three games.

New signing Yankuba Minteh has started on the right. The 20-year-old Gambian has signed from Newcastle United but it was his loan spell under Arne Slot at Feyenoord where he impressed the most.

During his spell in the Eredivisie he made 15 goal contributions (10 goals and five assists) in 27 appearances. He’s already proved potent in a Brighton shirt with three goals and an assist in pre-season and another assist on the opening day against Everton.

On the other side is star man Karou Mitoma. The Japanese international struggled with injuries last season with only 15 league starts and will be hoping that those problems are behind him so he can recapture the form of his debut Premier League season where he scored seven times and assisted five.

He’s already off the mark in both metrics with a goal against Everton and an assist against Manchester United.

There’s also strength in depth behind them with Simon Adingra and Julio Enciso. Adingra scored six goals in 25 league starts last season in what was his first in the Premier League and has put in a couple of excellent performances from the bench so far this season, scoring against Everton and assisting against Manchester United.

He’s an Ivory Coast international and yet another quality player that Brighton plucked from the obscurity of the Danish Superliga.

Paraguayan Enciso also looks to be a gem. He’s taken more time to be introduced to the team with fewer minutes than Adingra partly down to injury issues. He comes into this season off of a hectic summer, featuring for Paraguay in both the Copa America and the Olympics, impressing in both.

With young Irishman Evan Ferguson still coming back from injury, it’s left Joao Pedro and Danny Welbeck leading the line, which on paper is Pedro in behind Welbeck but often they work as a pair and press together as well as sharing similar average positions on the pitch.

Twenty-two-year-old Brazilian Pedro was a big money signing from Watford last season coming in for just under £30 million. He proved his worth with 20 goals in 40 appearances last season and still has room for growth. He’s already off the mark this season with goals against Manchester United and Arsenal.

Welbeck comes with tons of Premier League experience. He has 335 Premier League appearances over spells at Manchester United, Sunderland, Arsenal, Watford and Brighton and has a solid goal record of 69 goals in that time. At his peak he also won 42 caps for England, scoring 16 goals.

His injury record was always the only downside but that has been managed well with the Seagulls, which is shown by 60 of those appearances coming in the last two seasons.

His goalscoring season has also got off to a flyer and he’s currently two from three with goals against Everton and former club Manchester United.

The latest addition to Brighton’s frontline is a player that Town fans will know well, as will Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess, as Georgino Rutter gave them the run around in both games last season. Brighton triggered the former Leeds forward's release clause of £40 million in what is a club record fee for the Seagulls.

Rutter is still only 22 and can player as either a number nine or ten which suits Brighton’s fluid attacking play. He finished last season with six goals and 15 assists and will be looking to prove he has the ability to play at this level having struggled for goals the last time Leeds were in the Premier League.

The final attacking signing Brighton made was a young German full of potential who could become the latest on the production line of gems that the Seagulls have polished. Brajan Gruda joins off the back of an impressive season with Mainz that saw him called up to the German squad in recent times to gain experience.

He’s joined with what Hurzeler has described as a small injury and is yet to feature but could make his debut having had the international break to train and get back to full fitness.

<h1>The Teams</h1>

This game comes off the back of an international break where Town have had a number of players involved. Time on the training pitch is crucial at this stage of the season and I think we could see a more attacking line up with Jack Clarke coming in and Conor Chaplin returning, especially as Sammie Szmodics and Chiedozie Obgene played a lot of minutes in both of Ireland’s games.

Brighton have been consistent across their first three league games in every area other than midfield. They may have extra injuries to deal with as Veltman and Milner are doubts which could open the door for Lamptey and Ayari. Hinshelwood has struggled in an unnatural left-back position so it’s possible that he could switch to a more natural right-back role with either Estupinan or Kadioglu who both have injury issues coming in at left-back.

This game is a battle of the summer's big spenders. Brighton topped the net spend chart with an outlay of £153.6 million with Town closely behind with a net spend of £107.6 million.

Despite that, Brighton come into this one as clear favourites. I think this could well be an open, high-scoring game.

Brighton play a high line and a high press. Van Hecke is very aggressive with his pressing, much like Jacob Greaves, so this could be a fascinating tactical battle. The Seagulls are currently short on numbers in midfield and that's an area Town will look to exploit.

I think Brighton do have that extra bit of quality so I'm going for a 3-2 defeat.

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