A rampant Brighton and Hove Albion side thumped Coventry City on Sunday, with Pascal Gross (£5.6m) leaving the CBS Arena with an impressive 17-pointer.
Here are our Scout Notes from the match.
GROSS + DE CUYPER HAUL
It all came together for Gross’ 16.3% ownership on Sunday.
The German netted a perfect penalty, supplied two assists and scooped the maximum bonus to come out of this match with a 17-pointer.
Back to his best after a poor display at Elland Road last week, much of Brighton’s attacking play revolved around him.
Notably, Gross has now created more chances than any other player this season, with his six against Coventry bringing his total to 13.
Above: Players sorted by chances created in 2026/27
Still, it is important to mention that across his two away matches this season, Gross has delivered 30 points, with five attacking returns from only 1.18 expected goal involvement (xGI).
Albion came into this match on the back of a rare eight-day break. Fabian Hurzeler subsequently named an unchanged line-up, with Maxim De Cuyper (£4.8m) once more deployed in an ‘out-of-position’ role as a left winger.
He hauled, too, with another assist, his fourth attacking return in as many matches.
OTHER BUDGET OPTIONS DELIVER
There were several other really positive performances from Brighton, too.
In fact, Albion had five different goalscorers, with Diego Gomez (£5.0m) the only player from the starting XI who did not return.
A lovely individual goal from Charalampos Kostoulas (£5.5m) put the visitors in front, before Malick Yalcouye (£4.5m) exposed the Coventry defence and added a second just after half-time. The £4.5m midfielder popped up everywhere in the ‘10’ role, with this his second strike of the season.
With Brighton in the ascendancy after the red card (more on that later), Gross, Lewis Dunk (£4.5m) and Yasin Ayari (£5.4m) further compounded the home side’s misery.
As for Gomez, he fired an early low effort wide of the post, and given the position that he was in, probably should have scored.
Despite that miss, Brighton have jumped up to fourth in the table.
From an attacking perspective, they are top for goals scored (13), big chances (19) and expected goals (xG), with 10.17.
Above: Teams sorted by expected goals (xG) in 2026/27
A potentially tough matchup for Arsenal’s defenders at the Amex Stadium next week, then.
VERBRUGGEN EXCELS
At the other end, Bart Verbruggen (£4.5m) played a key part in this victory, with some crucial saves in the first-half.
Excellent whenever he was called upon, he helped deliver Brighton’s second clean sheet in four matches.
Ferdi Kadioglu (£4.4m), Luka Vuskovic (£5.0m), Dunk, Olivier Boscagli (£4.5m) and De Cuyper also delivered shut-out points.
Vuskovic almost scored his second goal in two matches, too, when his header was cleared off the line from Gross’ set-piece delivery.
“I wouldn’t say a complete performance. I think part of the truth is also that we had a good goalkeeper. We had in certain moments a little bit of luck that Coventry didn’t score. But I think overall we had a good balance between controlling the game in possession, having a good structure in possession and keeping the defensive stability.
“I think the chances they had were after set-pieces, second phases but for that we had a great goalkeeper. And the other part is at the right moment we scored the right goals and we had the right momentum on our side. What was positive of course is a clean sheet. What was positive that we had this desire to score, this desire to keep going.” – Fabian Hurzeler
NO POINTS, NO GOALS… AND AWONIYI BANNED
It’s been a really tough start to the season for Coventry, who are yet to score, having lost all four matches.
In the first-half here, they weren’t terrible, but they have to be more potent and ruthless in front of goal.
Staying in a 3-4-3 formation, they racked up eight shots in the first-half, with decent saves from Verbruggen denying Jack Rudoni (£5.0m) and Frank Onyeka (£4.9m), who later went off injured. Rudoni, Coventry’s best player by far, also hit the side-netting.
After that, however, the sending-off killed them, and it all got a bit humiliating from that point onwards.
Taiwo Awoniyi (£5.5m) was shown a straight red card for elbowing De Cuyper in the face. He’ll now serve a three-match ban, which will keep him out of Wednesday’s EFL Cup match against Aston Villa, as well as Gameweeks 5 and 6.
Brighton were really good, yes, but Awoniyi’s moment of madness hardly helped.
Remember, Coventry meet Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 6.
Ethan Pinnock (£4.5m) meanwhile was the only player from either side to bank defensive contribution (DefCon) points.
