Albion Analytics: The five stats that got us into Europe

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What has made Albion so good this campaign?

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2023-05-23T06:00:00Z

A sensational image of Pascal Gross after putting Albion 3-1 up against Southampton.

Brighton secured their 18th Premier League win of the season, and surpassed the 60-point threshold, with Sunday’s home win over Southampton.

More significantly, it mathematically guarantees the Albion a place in the top seven, ensuring European football for next season. Just one more point, with two games to play, would cement a place in the Europa League.

Here are five key statistics in Brighton’s first-ever achievement of European football.

1. Double double

In each of their first five Premier League seasons, Brighton had completed a double (beaten a team home and away) exactly twice in each campaign, totalling 10 ‘doubles’. This season alone, Roberto De Zerbi’s side managed six: Manchester United, Chelsea, Wolves, West Ham and fellow south-coast sides Bournemouth and most recently Southampton.

It is the first Premier League season where Brighton have ever registered more than 30 points at home (33), and only last season (29) did they earn more points away from home than the 28 this campaign, though there is still time to add to both those totals.

Of course, the ability to get results through different types of performances at home as well as in away games will be essential in trying to progress through the group stages come next season.

2. Bounce back-ability

Albion ended last season in fine fashion — five wins in the last eight — but a run of six consecutive losses prior to that meant it was not enough to mount a late European charge.

This season, Brighton have been excellent at bouncing back after a win. Of Brighton’s 11 Premier League defeats, nine have been followed by a win in the next league game, and there has been just one incidence of consecutive Premier League losses all season (1-0 at home to Tottenham followed by 2-0 away to Brentford in October).

3. Spread of scorers

Those who claimed Brighton ‘needed’ to sign a goalscoring number nine have been shown otherwise this season. Alexis Mac Allister has become just the third player to register a double digit Premier League goal tally for Brighton in a single season (after Glenn Murray in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and Neal Maupay in 2019-20) but six of his strikes have been penalties.

There are seven different Brighton players with six league goals or more, and even if you take just goals scored since De Zerbi’s arrival, Brighton have six players with more than five goals (Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma with seven, Pascal Gross, Danny Welbeck, Alexis Mac Allister and Evan Ferguson with six).

4. Sheer variety

The Albion took their goal tally to 70 with three against Southampton, further extending the club record but also a rate that only Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool can better this season — top four attacking form, that is to say.

With such high-scoring teams, there is typically at least one frequent assiter-goalscorer combination that routinely makes and scores goals. Brighton do not have that — which some can interpret as criticism, but rather shows how high-functioning the attack is that players can combine in so many different ways.

There are no instances of a Brighton player assisting the same teammate for more than two goals this season — Evan Ferguson’s first goal against Southampton was the second time Kaoru Mitoma has assisted him this season. The Japan international has been assisted twice by Pascal Gross. Evan Ferguson to Solly March, Julio Enciso to Gross (both vs Wolves at home), as well as both March and Gross to Leandro Trossard, are Brighton’s six assister-goalscorer combinations that have registered two goals.

5. Pascal Gross

Brighton’s first-ever Premier League signing. Now joint-record goalscorer in the Premier League (26) and officially into his best-ever individual season for goals plus assists (16), eclipsing his debut season of 17 (7 goals, 8 assists) in 2017-18. The German has played his most minutes in a season since arriving (3,059), but it is a comparison of Brighton as a team with compared to without him, since the start of 2017-18, that highlights his value.

Brighton have a higher win rate (30.5% vs 25.4%), more possession (51.4% vs 47.5%), almost three more shots as well as crosses per game, score more goals (1.2 vs 0.9) and concede fewer (1.3 vs 1.5).