A year ago Roberto De Zerbi became Brighton coach

Monday 18 September marked one year since Roberto De Zerbi became Brighton’s head coach. Last season the team under the Italian coach finished in a very solid sixth place, which usually belongs to one of the top English teams, but this season they are aiming even higher.

In their midfield they have some experienced players like James Milner or already thirty-two-year-old Danny Welbeck. This doesn’t mean that De Zerbi is only betting on experienced players, on the contrary, we can also find several young players and even a teenager in the team.

Since the Italian strategist took the helm, no other team has had more goals scored by players in their teens than Brighton, namely 15.

Another impressive thing was the aforementioned 6th place finish last season. What does that mean? Of course it’s participation in the European Cups, or more accurately it’s a ticket to the Europa League. It probably won’t surprise anyone that this is Brighton’s first ever participation in the European Cups. They will face Ajax, Marseille and the erratic AEK Athens in the group stage. In the opening round, the blue and whites will face Athens.

However, the Europa League might not be the place to stay. Every European football fan suspects that the club could compete with all the clubs in the competition and could storm to victory. Surely, the fear of incoming teams from the third place of the Champions League is not out of place either, if Brighton can play a very even match with Manchester City or Liverpool, there is no reason to be scared of such a Dortmund, for example, who face the group of death.

It may sound unbelievable, but Brighton managed to win 8 out of 15 games against teams from the “Top Six”. They have beaten Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal twice. They didn’t lose against Liverpool and Chelsea last season! The only team from the big six that they are waiting for any points against is Tottenham. Bottom line, they have lost 4 games against the biggest teams, no other team can boast such a great record.

Looking at the Premier League table from last season, we can see that Brighton were fourth in the goals scored column. Only Manchester City were better than Arsenal and Liverpool.

In the attacking line playing Mitoma, Ferguson and co. did not forget to score goals over the summer and this season they are again scoring one goal after another. After five rounds they are at number 15, no one else has scored more goals. This is related to the fact that under De Zerbi the team has scored more than 3 goals in 18 games.

Another great match statistic is ball possession. In fact, on average, Brighton reaches a figure of 62% in their matches. Yes, points are not awarded for possession, but when you have the ball on your feet and are dangerous you increase your chances of scoring points. In the last game against Manchester United, it was evident that the players are not afraid to combine at times and take risks in their penalty area as they are very confident on the ball.

Under the Italian coach, the English club has played 44 official matches with impressive statistics. In fact, the team managed to win 23 matches, draw nine others and only lose 12 times. One of them came already this season in a duel with West Ham, who started this season very well.

De Zerbi took over the club from Graham Potter, who went to Chelsea, but his stay there didn’t last very long and he is currently without a club. The losses suffered in the summer transfer window, Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister and Robert Sanchez have not affected the team at all so far.

Leandro Trossard left during last season, all of them have been replaced, especially in terms of the financial side so the club has benefited significantly. So we can only be surprised what Brighton will show us this season and how high they will finish in the Premier League.

Source: Brighton & Hove Albion FC, Fabrizio Romano