Brighton FPL Gameweek 34: Albion’s surprising clean sheet record
Given there is a feeling the Albion’s season has come off the rails somewhat in recent months, it might surprise you to discover that Brighton have the second-best clean sheet record after Arsenal since FPL Gameweek 20.
The Seagulls have managed five shutouts in that time, including their first of the campaign which arrived in the 0-0 draw at West Ham United.
Like the proverbial London Bus, you wait six months for a Premier League clean sheet and then five come along in 14 matches.
Brighton will face a challenge in adding a sixth clean sheet to their collection in FPL Gameweek 34, of course.
Seven teams play twice across the Double Gameweek, spread from Saturday afternoon to Thursday evening.
That last match is the Albion’s only one – at home to champions and current Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Although not the most attractive fixture for those managers looking to invest in the Seagulls, FPL has a habit of throwing such thoughts out of the window.
In the corresponding Amex fixture last season for example, Brighton ended City’s 12 game winning streak. The Seagulls held Pep Guardiola’s treble winners to a 1-1 draw with Julio Enciso scoring the Goal of the Season.
With that in mind, here are a couple of interesting Brighton players for FPL managers to think about.
Simon Adingra (£5.0 million)
Before we make the case for investment in the Brighton defence, consider that this is a time of chip strategy in the FPL season. Many Free Hits and Bench Boosts are being used this week but another popular idea is the Gameweek 35 Wildcard.
From here, owning a cheap asset such as Simon Adingra will be ideal because he is budget-friendly and has Double Gameweek 37 on the horizon. Only one midfielder priced £5.5 million or under betters his 125 touches inside the box.
Since returning from a victorious African Cup of Nations in Gameweek 25, Adingra has started all but one Brighton match.
This period’s 58 penalty area touches rank sixth throughout the whole league and are more than double those of all his team-mates.
Furthermore, no Brighton player has had more attempts (20) or shots on target (seven) during these eight fixtures than Adingra.
Bart Verbruggen (£4.4 million)
Part of the improving defensive record can be put down to Roberto De Zerbi giving up on his controversial goalkeeper rotation policy.
Not only did it make keeping a clean sheet hard for Brighton, but it also meant it was impossible for FPL managers to know who out of Verbruggen or Jason Steele (£4.1 million) to select,
Verbruggen has now started five consecutive matches, recording two shutouts in that time against Nottingham Forest and Brentford.
Should this streak of game time continue, Verbruggen is a great shout for Gameweek 37 Bench Boost users.
Along with those five clean sheets since the turn of the year, the Albion defence has conceded the fifth-fewest goal attempts (394) and the fourth-fewest shots on target (135) over the campaign as a whole.
Captaincy
Armband attention immediately goes to the players who will appear on two occasions in Double Gameweek 34 – and especially those of Arsenal and Liverpool.
Mohamed Salah (£13.5 million) has trips to Fulham and Everton as Liverpool try to recover from Sunday’s shock home defeat to Crystal Palace.
Eberechi Eze (£6.0 million) scored the winner for the Eagles at Anfield and has a pair of promising home meetings with West Ham United and Newcastle United.
Of course, Bukayo Saka (£9.0 million) will also be tasked with responding well to Arsenal’s own weekend loss followed by Champions League elimination at the hands of Bayern Munich.
FPL’s second-highest-scoring midfielder is away at Wolves before hosting Chelsea on Tuesday.
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