Albion Analytics: Pascal Gross makes it 50 goal involvements

Pascal Gross rounded off the scoring in our 4-1 win over Chelsea for his 50th Premier League goal involvement, becoming the first Brighton player to reach this milestone.

His 29 assists are the second-most by any German in the competition's history after Mesut Ozil (54), truly underlining the creative quality that he offers. Only Lewis Dunk (184) has made more Premier League appearances for Albion than Gross (167), with the 31-year-old then only player to score and assist in all six of Brighton’s seasons in the competition so far.

But it is the consistency that is remarkable with Gross - he has scored and assisted multiple goals in every single Premier League season to date, with this season now his second-best ever in the competition in terms of goals (four). He is on track for a sixth consecutive season with over four shot-creating actions per game.

Impressively, this season is his best in terms of per match averages for not only goals plus assists (0.5 - meaning he finishes or makes a goal every two games) but also for the underlying Expected Goals and Expected Assist numbers (0.52 per match), which point to a strong level of sustainability to his performances.

Sofascore’s algorithm rates his best game this season as the win against Leeds, where Gross scored the match-winning goal, one of eight times that he has scored such a goal.

After 12 games he rates as Brighton’s most consistent player based on Sofascore’s algorithm. Though subbed off in five games, he has started every match and has played marginally under 94% of available minutes, having never featured this regularly for Brighton - his previous most was 85.6% in the 2017/18 season.

The German is top of the Albion charts this campaign for shot-creating actions (46), crosses (80) and switches of play (11). Even half a decade into Premier League life, his Cruyff turn-to-cross move continues to deceive defenders.

Gross also ranks inside the top two Brighton players this season for final third touches (312) plus progressive passes played and received (43 and 63).

The dead-ball threat remains a key component of Gross’s game - he was statistically the most accurate corner taker in the league last season, with over 42% of corners leading to a first contact by a teammate.

After 12 games he ranks joint-tenth in the entire league for total shot-creating actions but when isolating this purely to set piece scenarios he sits sixth (15).

Ranked among Premier League central midfielders so far this season, he sits inside the top 10% for (per 90 minutes) key passes (2.31), Expected Assists (0.28), crosses (7.11) and progressive passes received (5.60) — not only is he creatively outstanding when compared to Brighton players but also across the entire league.  

His 21 goals have been scored against 12 different opponents and the 29 assists can be split against 18 teams — this shows that Gross can create and convert goals against a variety of different play styles but even he has favourite opposition.

There is seemingly something when playing teams ending in United. He has 8 goal involvements against Manchester United (6 goals, 2 assists) and West Ham (3 goals, 5 assists), his two best opponents for direct goal involvements — he scored twice in the opening day win at Old Trafford and set up Leandro Trossard to seal the win at the London Stadium.