The numbers behind Brighton in the 2022-23 FPL season
It has been an incredible 2022-23 season for Brighton with a sixth place finish securing European football for the first ever time – and such success has turned Albion players into outstanding FPL assets.
Under Roberto De Zerbi, the Seagulls have become one of the most exciting attacking teams to watch in the Premier League.
With goals shared around between numerous players, Brighton have provided many different routes to FPL points for managers in the 2022-23 season.
Combine that with a sturdy defence featuring individuals who also make big contributions going forward and you have the perfect blend of individuals who deliver at both ends of the pitch.
Fantasy Football Scout take us through the numbers behind the Albion in the 2022-23 FPL season.
Top scoring
Pascal Gross (£5.4 million) was Brighton’s top-scoring FPL player of 2022-23, registering 159 points over the course of the season.
The midfielder delivered nine Premier League goals, a number that just Alexis Mac Allister (£5.6 million) exceeded across the squad with 10.
Gross also contributed eight top flight assists. Only Solly March (£5.2 million) and Kaoru Mitoma (£5.7 million) with 10 and nine respectively bettered that total.
With De Zerbi having hailed Gross on several occasions as one of the best players he has ever worked with, Der Kaiser has been one of the first names on the team sheet.
Even during the hectic April and May periods when Brighton crammed 14 fixtures into eight weeks, he missed just one – and that was not through choice, either.
Injury ruled Gross out of 1-0 win over Manchester United. He was not rested once by De Zerbi, highlighting his importance to the Albion. Even Lewis Dunk and Pervis Estupinan were rotated once Europa League football was confirmed, but not Gross.
In addition to his goal and assists, Gross also picked up 14 FPL bonus points across the campaign and 11 clean sheet points.
Most attacking returns
Gross and March were tied best for attacking returns from the Seagulls. Both midfielders finished with a combined 17 goals and assists, one more than the 16 of Mitoma. March may well have overtaken Gross had he not missed most of the final month of the season injured.
You would have got long odds on March leading the way at the start of the season. Under Graham Potter, he managed three goals and four assists in 81 appearances.
Since De Zerbi took over, March’s output has improved dramatically to seven goals and seven assists from 27 matches. That form has given him a good chance of being voted as Player of the Season in the 2022-23 WAB Awards.
Most returns
Despite Gross racking up the biggest point score and leading the way for attacking returns alongside March, the most overall returns – both attacking and defensive – over the course of the campaign came from Pervis Estupinan (£5.0 million).
The consistently high performances of the left back enabled up to tally up 18 from one goal, seven assists and 10 clean sheets in 31 starts. Estupinan also brought in 15 bonus points.
Best defensive stats
Estupinan was just one of several fantastic FPL options in the Brighton defence. Lewis Dunk (£4.8 million) recorded a team high 12 clean sheets and came out on top for aerial duels with 188. He won 68 of those, another team leading total.
Dunk sits top for recoveries, clearances and blocks, meaning he fared well with the bonus points system. These numbers proved suitably impressive to earn a deserved England recall after nearly five years in the international wilderness.
Estupinan meanwhile was top amongst Brighton defenders for interceptions with 37, a tally that only Moises Caicedo (£5.0 million) could beat with 56.
Between the sticks
Robert Sanchez (£4.4 million) and Jason Steele (£4.0 million) shared goalkeeping responsibilities, the latter replacing the former as De Zerbi’s number one at the beginning of March.
Steele made 15 appearances from the 4-0 win over West Ham onwards. Sanchez played 23 times in total. They both kept six clean sheets each and exactly mirrored each other’s save percentage of 64.9 percent.
