Albion Analytics: Evan Ferguson

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We take a closer look at the Irishman's stats so far.

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2023-09-05T06:00:00Z

Against Newcastle Evan Ferguson became the youngest player to score a Premier League hat-trick since Liverpool's Michael Owen in 1998.

Evan Ferguson continued his fine goalscoring form with a first senior-level hat-trick, netting all three of Brighton’s goals in the home win over Newcastle.

After Leandro Trossard at Anfield in October, Ferguson became only the second Albion player to score a Premier League hat-trick. He is the first Irishman to do so since Jonathan Walters in 2015, and aged 18 years and 318 days, only the fourth player in competition history to score a hat-trick while younger than 19.

Ferguson’s first of the game, pouncing on a rebound to poke past Nick Pope, was his tenth Premier League goal involvement (eight goals, two assists at the time). He joins Cesc Fabregas as the only non-English players to reach double digit goal involvements in the Premier League before turning 19.

That Ferguson ended up with a hat-trick made the day historic for the league. Erling Haaland (against Fulham) and Son Heung-min (away to Burnley) had both netted three to make it only the second time ever three players have scored a Premier League hat-trick on the same day and the previous time was September 1995.

Ferguson has now scored 13 in just 28 appearances under Roberto De Zerbi (including five match-winners) and is Brighton’s top-scorer in all competitions since the Italian arrived, despite ranking 14th for minutes played.

He has made 16 starts and completed just two matches in their entirety, which adds to an already impressive statistic. Ferguson is one of four players — alongside Danny Welbeck, Kaoru Mitoma and since-departed Alexis Mac Allister — to register shots worth ten or more expected goals in that time, evidencing the depth and variety among Brighton’s forwards.

But adjust for minutes played by looking at stats per 90 minutes, Ferguson’s brilliance is almost unmatched. Since the start of last season, in all competitions and ranked against Brighton players with 500 or more minutes, Ferguson, per 90, has the most xG (0.65), the second-most shots (3.94, behind Julio Enciso), third-best shot accuracy (54.4%), the second-best conversion rate (22.8%, behind Adam Lallana) and the best minutes-per-goal rate (112).

Looking at the teenager against his positional and age-relevant counterparts, compared to players currently 21 or younger with 500 or more Premier League minutes since the start of last season, Ferguson’s shot accuracy, xG per 90, minutes per goal and shot conversion rate are the best of any player. That list includes the likes of Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho.

Ferguson’s individual display rightly took the plaudits but it has been another good start to a Premier League season for Brighton. They have now won three of their opening four games in each of the last three seasons, having failed to achieve that feat once in their eight top-flight seasons prior to that. Furthermore, Brighton’s scoring run is now 20 games long, netting 45 in that time. It is the longest in the league and the longest by any team since Liverpool’s 24 games between January and August 2022.

That Brighton beat Newcastle also means that Albion’s last ten Premier League losses have all been immediately followed up with a league win in the next game — they continue to bounce back.