Brighton & Hove Albion 2022-23 Season Review: April
The final two months of the 2022-23 season brought something of a fixture pile up for Brighton with seven matches in April and seven matches in May.
You did not need to have the mathematical skills of the lovely Rachel Riley to calculate that meant 14 games crammed into eight weeks, every one of which was important as the Albion sought to secure European football through either a top seven Premier League finish or glory in the FA Cup.
The intense schedule began with a chaotic 100 minutes of football against Brentford, a 3-3 draw so entertaining that Brighton were given a standing ovation by the Amex afterwards even though they only claimed a point.
It was an April Fool’s Day featuring attack-minded football from Brighton met by a Bees side who had been ruthless and effective playing on the counter attack throughout the 2022-23 season.
Brentford took the lead early on when Mathias Jensen crossed and Pontus Jansson escaped the attentions of Lewis Dunk far too easily to score a powerful header which left Jason Steele with no chance.
Next we were treated to one of the most beautiful sights in football – an indirect free kick in the box. Quite what Steele was thinking when he picked up a fairly obvious pass back nobody could fathom.
What followed was glorious. All 10 outfield players plus Steele gathered on the goal line to try and block as Ivan Toney laid off to Jensen.
Rarely do you see that sort of opportunity converted and it was the case here, a blue and white shirt charging down and blocking the effort before Brighton scrambled clear. It was a chaotic moment which summed up the 90 minutes nicely.
Steele was next involved in setting up the Albion equaliser. His pinpoint kick leathered over the top of the Brentford defence sent Kaoru Mitoma racing away to produce a lobbed finish over David Raya.
The Albion’s free transfer goalkeeper signing from League One Sunderland now had more Premier League assists for the 2022-23 season than Chelsea’s £88.5 million forward signing Mykhailo Mudryk.
Brighton fans sang “Who are ya?!” towards the South Stand but the gloating only lasted 90 seconds. A Joel Veltman throw was too easily won by Ben Mee charging forward from centre back.
Mee’s header found Toney in one-on-one with Steele and you would bet you mortgage on the England international scoring.
Toney duly did (score, not bet his mortgage) and Brentford were back in front. The “Who are ya” chants now came from the Brentford support with the Amex shell shocked.
There were six minutes to wait for equaliser number two. Solly March hung up a lovely cross to the back post where Danny Welbeck rose like the proverbial salmon to head down past Raya.
The chaos continued into the second half. Just four minutes had elapsed when Bryan Mbeumo sent a free kick into the box from 40 yards and Ethan Pinnock got between Pervis Estupinan and Levi Colwill to volley home at the back post.
Roberto De Zerbi was livid and one of the best GIFs of the 2022-23 season was born, the Brighton manager grabbing a screen in front of him and shaking it violently whilst his frightened coaching staff watched on.
It appeared as though a succession of missed chances were going to cost Brighton dear as Brentford led 3-2 right up until the last minute of normal time.
Another opportunity appeared to have gone begging when Deniz Undav fired over the bar from a good position. Undav though immediately appealed for a handball, VAR got involved and referee Michael Oliver was sent to the screen.
The result was the official concluding that Aaron Hickey had used his hand to deflect Undav’s effort over the bar. The Albion had a penalty and Alexis Mac Allister converted to make it Brighton 3-3 Brentford.
A strong drink and a long rest were needed after all that drama. There was no prospect of the latter, with the Albion heading to Bournemouth three days later.
Brighton had not won a league game away against the Cherries since 2007. Julio Enciso was was three-years-old at the time and Evan Ferguson two-years-old.
Those teenagers were both on target in an excellent 2-0 win at the Vitality Stadium. Ferguson set Brighton on their way with a superb opening goal just before the half hour mark.
Estupinan and Mitoma linked up down the left and when the former’s first attempt at a cross was blocked, the latter collected the loose ball and steered a low pass into the box.
Initially, it appeared to be behind Ferguson. The 18-year-old was calmness personified, however, producing an absolutely outrageous back heel into the bottom corner which caught Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto, the 21 other players on the pitch, both benches and everyone else inside the stadium by surprise.
Steele pulled off a succession of good saves in both halves before Enciso wrapped up victory late on with his first goal for Brighton as April proved to be a breakout month for the Paraguayan teenager, whose 2022-23 season had been inconsistent at best up to that point.
Pascal Gross spotted the sort of gap only he can and threaded the ball through the eye of a needle. Enciso collected, displaying supreme close control and some clever skill to work around Illia Zabarnyi.
He was then calmness personified in not rushing his final effort, using all the time and space afforded to find the bottom corner.
Three points at the Vitality Stadium in the second game of April moved Brighton almost unnoticed into the 2022-23 season’s battle for Champions League qualification.
With games in hand on all the teams above them and the opportunity to take points off top four rivals Spurs, Manchester United and Newcastle United, the Albion found themselves on the cusp of something truly incredible.
The trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium suddenly looked even bigger than it previously had. Which is why Brighton being cheated out of victory by some absolutely atrocious officiating left Albion fans genuinely believing that the Premier League were actively trying to prevent them qualifying for the Champions League.
Just thinking about that April afternoon and how it played out is still enough to make steam spout from the ears of every Brighton supporter – which is saying something given everything the Seagulls achieved in 2022-23.
We will therefore not dwell on it too long. Son Heung-min and Harry Kane scored for Spurs, Lewis Dunk for Brighton. The Albion had two perfectly good goals ruled out and two stonewall penalty appeals turned down.
It finished 2-1 to Tottenham but it should have been 4-1 to Brighton. Still, De Zerbi received a nice apology from PGMOL chief Howard Webb for the performance of his officials – the third of the season – which obviously made up for being cheated out of points.
Another trip to London followed a week later, this time to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Glow Up Graham Potter had sadly been sacked earlier in April, lasting just seven months after slithering from Brighton to Stamford Bridge five games into the 2022-23 season.
Frank Lampard was now in caretaker charge and the Albion’s visit to West London was his first home game back in the dugout.
With Todd Boehly watching on, Brighton made it an unhappy homecoming for Lampard by winning 2-1 to secure their first ever league victory away against Chelsea.
A Conor Gallagher shot heavily deflected off Dunk gave the Blues the lead. Welbeck equalised, heading past Kepa Arrizabalaga after Gross produced a Gross Turn to bamboozle his marker followed by a perfect cross.
Enciso scored the winner midway through the second half with a stunning strike. March moved the ball inside where Enciso took two touches, steadied himself and then let go a bullet into the top corner of Kepa’s goal from a full 30 yards.
As Enciso and his teammates celebrated wildly with the Albion fans behind the goal, it was something of a surprise Boehly did not turn around to Tony Bloom and offer him £700 million for the teenager there and then.
Next came a date with Manchester United in the semi finals of the FA Cup. Unlike their previous visit to Wembley to face Manchester City in April 2019, Brighton were not merely there to make up the numbers; there was a genuine believe they could beat United and advance to the 2022-23 FA Cup final.
The bookies reflected that by making the Albion slight favourites. 34,000 Brighton fans turned one end of Wembley into a sea of blue and white, witnessing their side play the better football over 120 minutes.
No goals were scored though by either team, thanks largely to the exploits of David De Gea at one end and Robert Sanchez at the other. And so it went to penalties.
Perfect spot kick followed perfect spot kick and just when it seemed like the shootout was going to go on forever, March stepped up and blazed miles over the bar.
Victor Lindelof converted the following penalty for United and that was that; a crushing way for Brighton to exit a competition which had brought so much excitement to Seagulls supporters in 2022-23, from eliminating holders Liverpool in January through to a day at Wembley in April.
The Albion had to pick themselves up just 72 hours later for a tough trip to Nottingham Forest. Visiting a raucous City Ground to face a Tricky Trees side fighting to avoid relegation would have been a difficult fixture at the best of times, let alone coming so soon after defeat in an FA Cup semi final.
Brighton somewhat unsurprisingly looked fatigued both physically and mentally. Facundo Buonanotte put the Albion ahead with his first goal in English football but a Gross own goal on the stroke of half time meant it was level going into the break.
Forest upped their game in the second half as the Albion began to tire. The hosts moved 2-1 ahead when the normally flawless Moises Caicedo gave possession to Taiwo Awoniyi.
He slipped in Danilo, who breezed easily past Levi Colwill and drilled a clinical effort past Steele and into the bottom corner.
A third Forest goal arrived in injury time. Over came a corner, Dunk leapt into the air with his arms above his head and when the ball hit his hand to divert clear, VAR had a simple decision to make.
Steele had saved a penalty earlier in the evening, leading many Brighton fans to wonder what might have been had De Zerbi switched his goalkeepers for the Wembley shootout. Steele could not repeat the trick second time around and Morgan Gibbs-White converted.
The final game of April brought Wolves to the Amex and for the first time in the 2022-23, De Zerbi rotated his starting XI in response to the defeat at Forest.
More than a few eyebrows were raised when all of Mac Allister, Caicedo and Mitoma were named on the bench. Paul Merson on Soccer Saturday went so far as to say De Zerbi had picked a team to deliberately lose as the head coach did not want the Albion to qualify for Europe because they were not ready.
Ye of little faith. What followed was an extraordinary performance as Brighton hammered Wolves 6-0, racking up their biggest ever top flight victory and largest winning margin at the Amex.
Undav, Gross and Welbeck all scored braces in the thrashing as the Albion ended April in some style. Brighton now had their European fate in their own hands going into the final month of the season.
April 2023 record: P7 W3 D2 L2 F15 A9
Results: 3-3 v Brentford (H), 2-0 v Bournemouth (A), 1-2 v Spurs (A), 2-1 v Chelsea (A), 0-0 v Manchester United, 1-3 v Forest (A), 6-0 v Wolves (H)
League position at the end of the month: 8th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: Pascal Gross
