Brighton and Hove Albion have performed well above expectations in the 2021/22 Premier League season so far and were even threatening a top-six finish back in the early stages of the campaign. Those ambitions have been cooled slightly in recent weeks, but Graham Potter and his team are still on course to produce the club’s highest finish in their history.
The Seagulls need to place above 12th to better the 13th-place finish of the 1981/82 season, which is certainly within their grasp.
According to the talks of bookmakers in the Premier League betting tips, a resurgence in form could even see Brighton push for a top-six finish, as they're priced at odds of 16/1 to achieve this feat. It would take a remarkable run of results to achieve this, but Potter’s men have proven that they are more than capable of matching the best in the top flight.
Even their 2-0 defeat to Manchester United was disappointing in terms of their failure to capitalise on good chances in the first half, which could have helped them to beat the Red Devils at Old Trafford rather than an abject surrender, which Brighton may have done in the previous four seasons in the Premier League. The omens are positive, at least, to finish in the top half of the table, but it also comes with a warning.
Teams in the past have fallen victim to the glass ceiling of the Premier League. For sides of Brighton’s ilk, there is a certain limitation to their success. A top-six finish would be a dream for the Seagulls and the pinnacle of the club’s history, but realistically, it will not happen during this season or the next one. The top six in the top flight is more or less a closed shop, bar minor intrusions from Leicester City and perhaps West Ham in the current campaign.
In the past, Swansea City, Stoke City and Southampton all made strides into the top half of the Premier League and pushed for a European place. However, in the case of Swansea and Southampton, this pursuit would go on to cost them their managers and their best players.
Brendan Rodgers entrenched the club in the Premier League before he was snatched away by Liverpool, while leading lights Joe Allen, Ben Davies and Wilfried Bony were also plucked by the Reds, Tottenham and Manchester City, respectively.
Southampton’s toil is worse, losing Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren to Liverpool, Toby Alderweireld, Victor Wanyama and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to Tottenham, and Luke Shaw and Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United. Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman were successful in the St Mary’s dugout but again moved on to Tottenham and Everton with mixed fortunes after leaving the Saints.
Swansea and Southampton were left to pick up the pieces. The Saints have managed to keep their heads above water even amidst the constant turnover on the sideline and on the field. Swansea eventually was overwhelmed and took the plunge to the Championship.
Stoke are the outlier as they lost neither key players or their managers to other Premier League clubs until Marko Arnautovic left the club in their final year, but the rot in the squad had well and truly set in at that point anyway. The Potters were the victim of poor recruitment, spending significant sums on players that failed to perform.
The vultures will be out in force should Brighton continue to perform at a high level. It has arguably already begun with the loss of technical director Dan Ashworth to Newcastle. The top six sides in the Premier League will be eyeing Potter’s achievements at the Amex Stadium, while players of the ilk of Yves Bissouma and Tariq Lamptey have already been linked with moves away from the club.
Brighton have done a solid job of turning over their squad without losing their Premier League status, but the challenge will come once the big guns come plucking for managers and star men.
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