Albion Analytics: A terrific January

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An unbeaten month makes for good numbers.

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2023-02-01T06:00:00Z

Albion won four of their five games in January, drawing the other.

Brighton beat Liverpool for the second time this month to knock out the current FA Cup holders and march on into the fifth round.

Head coach Roberto De Zerbi was nominated for Premier League manager of the month and the club had three different goals in contention for goal of the month - Solly March and Danny Welbeck versus Liverpool and Kaoru Mitoma at Leicester.

Albion are the only Premier League team without a defeat across all competitions in January, winning four of their five games and drawing once, with over 50% possession in all of those fixtures.

It is the second calendar year running where Brighton have gone unbeaten in their five games over January, having won twice and drawn three in January 2022, outscoring opponents 8-5. The singular Premier League win (vs Everton) and three consecutive 1-1 draws (vs Crystal Palace, Chelsea and at Leicester) would form part of a club-record seven game unbeaten run.

In fact, over the past three years, the Seagulls have won ten times and lost just once in 17 games in January, collectively outscoring opponents 32-17.

This calendar year, Brighton are the top Premier League side across all competitions for goals scored (16) and goal difference (+11) while they rank fourth for expected goals (11.11) and second for big chances (19, scoring 9) — there may be a degree of hot-streak finishing about the Albion currently but they are still putting up high-ranking underlying numbers.

Naturally there is a small-sample size caveat with data over a five-game period, where game state (i.e. the scoreline) and opposition quality can have a significant impact, but it is notable that Brighton rank as low as 18th for crosses (74) but are joint-fourth for through balls attempted (12) among Premier League teams in all competitions for January — Roberto De Zerbi’s 4-2-3-1 has enabled the Albion to penetrate teams centrally by using two defensive midfielders and baiting the press to then break lines and find the inverted wingers.

Wingers Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma (three each) are Brighton’s joint-top scorers across January, but it is notable that nine different players have scored in either the Premier League or FA Cup this month for Roberto De Zerbi — Lewis Dunk, deflecting Tariq Lamptey’s shot from range in to equalise against Liverpool, was the latest.

Left-back Pervis Estupinan played every minute of the January fixtures and is something of an unsung hero for supporting left-winger Kaoru Mitoma. His four assists (two for Mitoma) are the most of any Brighton player across all competitions in January.

He passed to the Japan international 13 times at Leicester, including one assist, only passing to centre-back Lewis Dunk more (38), with Mitoma being Estupinan’s top teammate for passes in the 3-0 win against Liverpool (17) and at Everton (10, joint with Pascal Gross).

Throughout January, Mitoma is Brighton’s joint-top player for big chances created (three) but outright top for final third passes (98), touches in the opposition box (38) and has twice as many dribbles (28) as second-place Solly March (14), who is the only player to have taken more than Mitoma’s 11 shots (six on target).