Kaoru Mitoma voted WAB December 2022 Brighton Player of the Month

January 9, 2023January 9, 2023 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

A second WAB Brighton Player of the Month in a row belongs to Kaoru Mitoma with the Japanese winger adding the December 2022 award to his November triumph.

The joke goes that Chelsea are currently preparing a £250 million bid for Mitoma. If he maintains his current astronomical form level over the rest of the campaign, then that might not be far away from the truth come the summer transfer window.

Brighton played two Premier League matches in December and Mitoma shone in both. Southampton had no answer to his pace, dribbling ability and willingness to run at opponents as the Albion sauntered to a 3-1 victory at St Mary’s on Boxing Day.

New Year’s Eve brought leaders Arsenal to the Amex. Although the Gunners sauntered into a 3-0 lead inside of an hour, the final score of Brighton 2-4 Arsenal does not do justice to how worried the Albion had visiting players and fans before the full time whistle.

Mitoma was the star turn as the Seagulls dominated, coming close to a famous comeback. He beat Aaron Ramsdale with a clinical finish to pull one back and when Evan Ferguson scored the first senior goal of his career, Arsenal were panicking.

How different might things have turned out had Mitoma’s second of the evening been allowed to stand? Instead, VAR found Mitoma had a neck hair offside in the build up.

He was denied a brace and Brighton were denied the chance to hunt down a one-goal advantage in the eight minutes of time added on.

Solly March finished as runner up in the WAB October 2022 Player of the Month award and he again has to settle for being the bridesmaid rather than the bride, nearly 30 percent behind Kaoru Mitoma in the December vote.

Things did not get off to the best of starts for March. Having seen Jason Steele save two Charlton Athletic penalties, March had the chance to slot away the decisive spot kick which would have sent Brighton into the quarter finals of the League Cup for only the second ever time.

March duly stepped up and sent the ball into orbit. Charlton made the most of the reprieve and the Albion found themselves eliminated at the hands of a side sitting four points off the League One relegation zone, whose two most recent home matches had been defeats to Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham Town.

As a renowned confidence player, a lot of Brighton fans worried about what sort of impact that miss would have on March.

The answer was none. At Southampton five days later, he broke his long wait to score with a distance strike good enough to be nominated for the Premier League November and December Goal of the Month award.

That capped a memorable afternoon against the Saints. March hard earlier teed up Adam Lallana for the opener and it was his pressure on Romain Perraud which forced the Southampton defender to score an own goal after Gavin Bazunu spilled a Pervis Estupinan cross for the second Albion goal.

Third place in the December 2022 Player of the Month award goes to Levi Colwill. An injury sustained by Adam Webster in the 2-2 winter break friendly draw with Aston Villa in Dubai presented Colwill with the chance to play all three games in December.

He has grasped the opportunity, delivering a series of accomplished showings alongside Lewis Dunk at centre back. Strong defensively and remarkably calm in possession, it is easy to see why Colwill is being tipped to be an England regular by the 2026 World Cup.

The most noticeable difference Colwill has made to the Brighton defence however has come because he is left footed.

Colwill alongside Dunk gives the Albion a much more balanced right-foot-left-foot partnership. It will be interesting to see whether Roberto De Zerbi sticks with the on-loan Chelsea defender once Webster returns to fitness.