Albion Analytics: Seven Pascal Gross stats

The German signed a contract extension last week, taking his time at the Albion until 2024. At the time of writing, Gross has been at the Albion for 4 years, 11 months and seven days, ranking him inside the top 100 current longest-serving Premier League players.

Feature focus

Brighton’s No.13 has become a staple of the club as a Premier League side with only captain Lewis Dunk (172) having made more appearances than Gross (155), while the midfielder’s 170 Albion appearances in all competitions ranks him inside the top 20 Brighton players ever. 103 of his Brighton games have come under Graham Potter, whom Gross has played for more than any other coach and he is the only Brighton player to score and assist in every Premier League season to date.

German engineering

Renowned for his playmaking ability, Mesut Ozil (54) and Leroy Sane (28) are the only Germans with more Premier League assists than Gross (27), who has over double the assists of the next best Albion player (Solly March – 13). As per Transfermarkt, Elliot Bennet (33) is the player on record to have more assists for Brighton than Gross, who has 29 in all competitions.

Consistency is key

Perhaps Gross’s biggest strength is his ability to sustain a quality attacking output. Across the last five Premier League campaigns he has averaged over three shot-creating actions per game, played over 20 full matches worth of minutes, recorded at least six direct goal involvements, played and received a minimum of 90 passes and crossed more than 60 times. In four of the last five campaigns, his rate of shot-creating actions has ranked inside the top 10% of Premier League midfielders.

Set-piece specialist

From a chance creation perspective, Gross stands out as one of the best dead-ball deliverers in the league. Over 37% (180/483) of his Premier League shot-creating actions have been set pieces, and he has created 14 goals from such situations. This season saw Gross rank among the top ten players for dead-ball shot-creating actions for the fourth time in five Premier League seasons, with a third-highest total of 37. He can score as well as create from these situations, having netted Brighton’s first ever direct free-kick goal in the Premier League (at home to Everton in the 19/20 season), while he has converted 5/8 penalties.

Double threat

Gross’s outstanding debut Premier League campaign – 2017/18 – remains the Brighton record for most goals plus assists in a single season (15 – 8 assists, 7 goals). That season, he was directly involved in 44% of Brighton’s goals, with only Mo Salah (50% - Liverpool) more readily scoring/assisting for his side.

On four separate occasions Gross has scored and assisted in the same game, most recently in the final day win against West Ham. He has achieved this feat more than any other Albion player, and has scored and assisted (not in the same game) against eight different Premier League opponents.

Bring on United

As a Brighton player, Gross has shone in particular in games against West Ham (7 goals + assists in 8 appearances) and Manchester United (6 goals + assists in 9 appearances), his two most fruitful opponents as an Albion player. Brighton have beaten those two opponents a combined six times in the Premier League, with Gross netting the winner three times.

I like to move it move it

As a Premier League player, Gross have moved the ball a combined 37,618 forward yards through passes and dribbles, which equates to over 34 kilometres, or 327 lengths of the Amex pitch. In each of Brighton’s three seasons under Potter, the German has ranked either first or second for switches of play, recording totals of 66, 100 and 92 in chronological order of least to most recent campaign.