The Brighton & Hove Albion Stats Collection: Volume I
Very much inspired by @LUFCDATA on Twitter, this piece will be the first in what will hopefully become a collection of Brighton statistics. There isn’t really a structure to this, just a generous helping of stats for you to sink your teeth into. If you do like this piece, then please consider supporting the page over on Patreon — you’ll find volume II there at some point in the near future!
Without further ado, here’s fifty — yes 50 — Brighton & Hove Albion stats:
Brighton have scored 22 goals after 19 games in the 2020/21 season, the exact same number they had at the halfway stage last campaign.
Adam Webster is the only Albion player to have been on-field for all goals scored in the Premier League this season, though he has taken the most shots (17) of any Brighton player without scoring.
10 different players (Trossard, Maupay, Mac Allister, Dunk, Lamptey, Gross, March, Welbeck, Bissouma and Connolly) have scored for Brighton in the Premier League this season; only three sides have a higher number of different goalscorers.
Of all U25 players in the Premier League, only Dominic Calvert-Lewin (11) has more domestic goals this season than Neal Maupay (7).
Neal Maupay currently ranks among the top 25 Premier League players for touches in the opposition box (82), final third pressures (80) and shots taken (35), whilst sitting among the top 10 for xG (8.5).
Brighton have taken the 10th most shots in the league this season (219), though only 25.6% of shots have been on target, the lowest accuracy in the division; opponents have blocked 70 of Albion’s shots this campaign.
There have been 12 penalty kicks in Brighton games this season — 5 for, 7 against — the most of any side in the Premier League and among the top 3 in Europe’s top 5 leagues combined.
Only West Ham (55) have completed more crosses into the penalty area this season than Brighton (51).
Compared to last campaign, the Albion are averaging more box entries per game through box open-play passes, carries and crosses; per 90 minutes this season, Potter’s side complete 9.4 open-play passes into the penalty area (8.2 last season), 4 successful carries into the opposition box (3.7 last season) and 2.7 open-play crosses into the 18-yard-box (2.2 last season).
Brighton have currently taken the most throw ins (407) of any side in the division.
Though they are pressing less this season — 124 pressures per game down from 153 pressures, the rate of successful pressures (leading to possession won inside 5 seconds) has increased by 3%, and is second to only Liverpool this season.
Compared to his numbers per 90 minutes last season, Maupay is averaging less shots (2.5 versus 2.9), more ball progressions into the final third (2.4 versus 1.8) and under half the number of final third pressures (5.8 versus 11.5).
Albion have scored with their first or second shot in all of their last 5 Premier League wins; first shot against Leeds, Aston Villa and Burnley (last season), first two shots against Newcastle and second shot against Norwich (last season).
No side has dropped more points from winning positions this season than Brighton (12).
Brighton have conceded 8 times in the final 15 minutes of the first half of Premier League games so far this season, just one fewer than they conceded in 38 matches last season (9).
7 of Brighton’s last 8 wins in all competitions have come in away games, with 12 goals scored from 79 shots across those victories; that gives a conversion rate of over 15%, a figure beyond double the Albion’s in the league this season (7%).
Both teams have scored in 63% (12) of Brighton’s Premier League games this season, a joint-league high alongside Manchester United.
Brighton’s squad averages an age of 25.6 years this season, the 5th youngest in the division, though Graham Potter’s teams selected against Newcastle (24.4 years average age) and Everton (24.5 years average age) are the two youngest sides selected for a game in the top flight this season.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh has created 4 big chances this season, the most of any Albion player, despite playing less than 300 league minutes.
Brighton have created more xG than opponents in 12 of the first 19 games this season, an improvement on the 10 they managed in the first half of the 19/20 season.
Up until December 2020, Brighton had give 27.5% of total top-flight minutes to home-grown players, the most of any side in the division.
Brighton have created 35 big chances in their opening 19 games — 1.84 per game; that per match average is comfortably over the 1.63 that they averaged across the whole of the last campaign.
No Premier League side has drawn more games than Brighton this season (8), with the Seagulls having drawn the most of any EFL side in 2020 (16 times) and having spent over 55% of matches this season drawing. 17 draws is the most any side have managed in a 38-game Premier League season.
Graham Potter has given 9 Albion players their Premier League debut whilst aged 23 or under; Neal Maupay, Aaron Connolly, Alexis Mac Allister, Jayson Molumby, Robert Sanchez, Ben White, Andi Zeqiri, Read Khadra, Steven Alzate.
Under Potter, U23 players have been directly involved in 28% of goals (26 goal involvements total). Comparatively, there were only 5 goal involvements by U23 players under Hughton in the Premier League.
Since Graham Potter took over, he has given more Premier League debuts to U23 players (9) than he has players over the age of 23 (4).
Brighton have commited the fourth most fouls in the league this season (231), with opponents recording 22 shots and 8 goals from fouls won against the Albion — that goals conceded from fouls is a league joint-high.
Brighton have only managed to nutmeg opponents on 8 occasions this season, the fourth lowest of any Premier League side. Comparatively, opponents have nutmegged the Albion 17 times, the third most in the division.
The Albion have already hit the woodwork 10 times this season, a total only three sides have eclipsed and more than they managed in the whole of the 19/20 season (9).
Over 16% of Brighton’s shots taken this season have ended in goals being scored by the opposition, the highest proportion in the division.
Brighton have conceded 28 times from inside the penalty area this season, only West Brom (36) and Leeds (30) have conceded more from this zone.
Brighton are unbeaten this season against sides 12th or lower in the table — 2 wins and 6 draws in 8 games, keeping clean sheets in half (4) of those fixtures.
Just 26.5% of opposition pressures on Brighton have been successful this season (led to turnover inside 5 seconds), making them the second-most press resistant side in the league after Liverpool (25.5%).
Leeds generated just 0.35xG in the Elland Road loss to Brighton — the Seagulls limited them to their lowest xG ever in a domestic game under Bielsa.
Brighton have enjoyed the majority share of possession in 11 of their first 19 Premier League games this season, 4 fewer than what they managed last season.
Brighton have scored 6 times this season from passing sequences involving 5 or more passes:
16 passes v Aston Villa ( Solly March goal)
7 passes v Wolves (Connolly goal)
7 passes v Chelsea (Trossard goal)
6 passes v Leeds (Maupay goal)
6 passes v Portsmouth (Jahanbakhsh goal)
5 passes v Manchester United (Solly March goal)
Brighton are not only averaging more counter-attacks per 90(2.4 versus 1.9) than opponents this season, but a higher percentage (37% v 32%) of the Seagulls’ counters are leading to shots.
The Seagulls generated 10 shots from set piece situations against Sheffield United at the Amex in December, their most from dead balls in any Premier League game to date.
Collectively, Brighton have made just 1 error leading to an opposition shot this season in the Premier League, the joint-lowest in the division.
Brighton currently have the fourth lowest aerial win rate (46.5%) in the Premier League; they were second in this metric last season (53.9%).
The Seagulls have recovered the ball 1,769 times this season, the fourth most of any side.
Only Arsenal (56) have made more subs than Brighton this season (55), with substitutes collectively generating 4 goal involvements this season for Potter (2 goals, 2 assists); Aaron Connolly assisted Alexis Mac Allister to equalise at Palace, the only time in 2020 that two substitutes combined for a goal for Brighton.
The comeback against Wolves in early January was the fourth occasion in which Brighton had recovered from 2+ goals down to draw in the Premier League (West Ham away 19/20, Southampton away 18/19, Fulham home 18/19).
Brighton have shot 55 times in the final 15 minutes of games this season, accumulating 6.4xG across those shots; that is their best 15 minute window for both metrics this campaign.
No side have played more passes off the pitch this season than Brighton (201).
Only 4 sides have taken more outswinging corners this season than Brighton (45), with both goals scored from corners resulting from this type.
16 non-penalty goals scored from a non-penalty xG of 20.7 means Brighton have underperformed in this metric by 4.7, the third most underperforming side in the league.
Brighton conceded just 20 shots in their games against Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester United this season — Newcastle conceded 64 against those opponents.
Brighton have generated 17xG in home games this season, the 4th most of any side in the division, though netting just 10 Amex goals this campaign sits them among the bottom 5 top flight sides for home goals scored.
And stat number 50: By the time they kick off against Fulham, Brighton will not have been in the relegation zone for 1,251 days.
And that’s a wrap. Hopefully you enjoyed this volume of the collection! For more stats and analysis take a look at our Twitter page.
