Gameweek 1 of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is drawing ever nearer and we’re profiling all 20 Premier League teams before the season starts.
After weighing up what Arsenal, Aston Villa and Brentford players have to offer, we continue our team-by-team guides with Brighton and Hove Albion.
You can check out our Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Bournemouth analysis in our Promoted series, articles that will be refreshed before the big kick-off.
Data in this article comes from our Premium Members Area, which you can access with a discounted subscription for as little as £2.49 a month today.
LAST SEASON: ATTACK
| Total | Rank v other Premier League clubs | |
| Goals scored | 42 | 15th= |
| Shots | 489 | 7th |
| Shots in the box | 298 | 10th= |
| Shots on target | 146 | 14th |
| Big chances | 63 | 11th |
| Expected goals (xG) | 54.45 | 9th |
Underdelivering on some decent underlying stats has become a feature of Brighton seasons.
In each of their five years as a Premier League club, they have scored with fewer than 10% of their shots – ranking them in the bottom six in all five campaigns.
Only relegated Norwich City ‘underachieved’ more than the Seagulls last season when it came to actual goals scored versus expected goals (xG):
It’s a chronic issue and not one that Albion seem to have really addressed in the summer, with the jury still out on returning loanee Denis Undav (£5.5m) and the promising-but-raw Julio Enciso (£5.0m).
As a footnote, the underlying numbers were even better after the switch to a 3-5-2 in the run-in – despite Graham Potter’s side facing four ‘big six’ sides in that time. Albion were ranked sixth for minutes per big chance and xG in the final eight Gameweeks.
LAST SEASON: DEFENCE
| Total | Rank v other Premier League clubs | |
| Goals conceded | 44 | 6th |
| Clean sheets | 11 | 7th= |
| Shots conceded | 476 | 6th |
| Shots in the box conceded | 291 | 6th |
| Shots on target conceded | 146 | 6th |
| Big chances conceded | 58 | 7th |
| Expected goals conceded (xGC) | 50.74 | 6th |
Brighton’s clean sheet count and goals conceded tally was more in keeping with the rest of their underlying defensive numbers.
Albion did ‘overachieve’ based on xGC – but then so too did 14 other clubs, in Opta’s eyes.
These strong figures you see above aren’t a fluke, either, as a Potter-led Brighton posted even better underlying numbers in 2020/21, finishing third for lowest xGC.
OPENING FIXTURES
Robert Sanchez (£4.5m) kept clean sheets in nine of his 27 appearances against sides outside of the top five last season, a relevant stat as Brighton don’t meet Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Spurs or Arsenal this side of the September international break.
Such a strong opening schedule sees the Seagulls placed second on our Season Ticker from Gameweeks 1-8, when clubs are ranked by fixture difficulty.
The two-week hiatus will be a good time to hop off any Brighton players, as all of last season’s top four follow in Gameweeks 9-14.
PREDICTED GAMEWEEK 1 LINE-UP
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