Albion Analytics: Albion's progress under Dario Vidosic

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Our WSL season starts against Villa on Sunday.

Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2025-09-05T06:00+01:00

Albion will be looking to better their fifth place finish in the WSL that they achieved last season. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion kick off their 2025/26 WSL campaign this weekend with a home match against Aston Villa, aiming to build on a club-record finish from last season.

In 2024/25, Dario Vidosic’s side finished fifth on 28 points, one place and one point higher than the previous club record from 2020-21 (6th and 27 points, then under Hope Powell). There were further season-best totals for goals scored (35) and goal difference (-6).

“We said we wanted to be the best Brighton team that has been through the club. In a way we have made a bit of history and we have set a good platform now to build on that,” Vidosic said at the end of the season, with the coaching staff now speaking publicly about trying to break into the established top four.

While they have earned the right to look upwards, it is important to recognise the progression. Vidosic has helped elevate the team to a more rounded and attacking side. Their number of direct attacks (a measure of counter-attacking) dropped by 20 last season compared to 2023/24, and the share of long passes went down 4% too.

Dario Vidosic guided Albion to a fifth place finish in the WSL last season. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

They did more defending further upfield, with 433 tackles total (50 more than 2023-24) and 88 of those being in the final-third — they ranked third in the WSL for the latter metric, and won the second-most fouls (229, behind Manchester United’s 236). Four clean sheets was twice as many as the campaign prior, and Brighton’s most in a season since they kept seven in 2021/22.

Albion also fixed an issue of defending set pieces which had plagued them in recent years, conceding 13 and 12 goals from such situations in 2022/23 and 2023/24. They limited opponents to just three set piece goals last term.

Most importantly, their attacking side really started to show. They more than doubled their number of ten-plus pass sequences from the season prior, stitching together 204 moves of ten-plus passes in 2024/25 (101 in 2023-24), the fourth-highest in the division.

There was little rush to cross the ball, with Brighton averaging 60 passes per cross, the highest number in the division, indicating a preference to create from central areas — 19 through balls were more than Brighton managed combined in the three seasons prior (14).

Fran Kirby scored seven WSL goals in her first season as an Albion player. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

They doubled the number of big chances created from 2023/24 (25) to 2024/25 (50), and were the league’s top team for the highest number of one-touch shots (55%), proof of success with their shorter approach play, and an ability to create quality shooting opportunities.

The arrivals of experienced England internationals Fran Kirby and Nikita Parris were crucial in executing the style that Vidosic wanted. Often he would play both in the forward line of the 3-4-3, and they finished the season as the club’s joint-top scorers with seven goals apiece. All in, Albion had 12 different WSL goalscorers last term.

There will be some pressure for Brighton to replicate the excellent start of the season prior, where they won five, drew one and lost just twice in the opening eight matches. That Manchester City are their only opponent in the first five matchdays who finished top four last year means a similarly fast-start might be possible.

While they tailed off slightly in the latter half of the campaign, there were two standout performances. Albion were one of only three teams to take points from Champions Chelsea, drawing 2-2 with Sonia Bompastor’s team in early March. Then, on the penultimate matchday, Brighton beat Arsenal for the first time in the WSL.

The 4-2 win was convincing. They twice scored from high turnovers, being brave to lock on and press Arsenal into mistakes, and netted from a second-phase corner, while the game-sealing fourth goal came following a counter-attack that started in the defensive half.

Optimism for 2025/26 has grown with the return of loanee Michelle Agyemang from Arsenal. The teenager only clocked 576 league minutes last season but showed plenty of promise off the bench, and scored in consecutive matches late in the season.

This summer, she was a standout impact substitute for England as they defended their European title. Agyemang, still only 19, scored late equalisers in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, which England won on penalties, before beating Spain in the final — she won Young Player of the Tournament.

Agyemang said it was an “easy decision” for a second loan spell on the south coast. “I developed well here last season and had a lot of support from the girls, so I’m happy to be back. I think we have a high ceiling and I know we can achieve so much.”