Vote now for your February 2021 WAB Brighton Player of the Month

February 2021 was a very strange time for Brighton & Hove Albion which is probably going to make picking a Player of the Month quite tricky.

It began with an unbelievable high – a 1-0 victory away at reigning Premier League champions Liverpool, a result which left the Albion 11 points clear of the relegation zone and with eyes fixed firmly up the table.

And it ended with the lowest of the lows. Defeat against Crystal Palace when the Eagles mustered only two touches in the Brighton penalty area all evening, followed by two missed penalties and a 1-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion.

The Baggies had won only once at home all season prior to Brighton rocking up at the Hawthorns. Oh, and those two disastrous results coupled with Fulham’s improvement means that the Cottagers are now within three points. Suddenly, the Championship is looming large.

That win at Anfield ended up being Brighton’s only success in six attempts. A draw at Burnley was not a terrible result and Aston Villa at home would have been a comfortable victory were it not for Emiliano Martinez making nine unreal saves.

Leicester City provided the other opposition in the FA Cup, Brighton exiting the competition at the fifth round stage at the King Power Stadium. The Albion though gave a good account of themselves against Brendan Rodgers’ top four chasers.

Such inconsistent results for Brighton in February 2021 unsurprisingly led to inconsistent individual player performances. Take Big Dan Burn for example. He claimed an assist in a swashbuckling display at Anfield before going onto have a hand in both Palace goals at the Amex (do not worry Burn haters, he is not in the poll).

The winner of the February Player of the Month award might therefore be the player who has managed to veer from great to shite to the least extreme degree. After a January in which you could have made a case for nine or 10 individuals winning, that is quite a contrast.

The candidates for WeAreBrighton.com February 2021 Brighton Player of the Month

Steve Alzate
February was probably Steve Alzate’s best month of the 2020-21 season. He scored the winner at Anfield by doing something incredibly rare for a Brighton player and placing a shot into the corner of the goal before getting a run in the team at left wing back in the absence of Solly March.

Lewis Dunk
The Brighton captain began February strongly with an immense performance against Liverpool. He followed that up by helping the defence survive a Burnley bombardment as well as scoring the Albion equaliser at Turf Moor. Less impressive against Palace and was in the headlines at West Brom when his quickly taken free kick was disallowed, allowed and then disallowed again.

Pascal Gross
If one player summed up Brighton & Hove Albion’s February 2021, it was Pascal Gross. Ran the show at Liverpool, claimed an assist at Burnley and created countless opportunities against Villa. Things then went alarmingly downhill with the lowlight being his first half penalty crashed against the crossbar in the defeat to West Brom.

Alexis Mac Allister
January’s Player of the Month was not quite as good in February as injury set him back a little. He missed the trip to Anfield and struggled to make much impression on his return in the wind and rain at Burnley. Good against Villa and made plenty happen when Palace came to the Amex, only to be let down by the strikers’ inability to finish.

Robert Sanchez
His clean sheet at Liverpool set a club-record for four consecutive shutouts in the top flight. Gave a brilliant performance against Burnley which single handedly earned Brighton a point, leading to talk about a tug-of-war between England and Spain to secure his services at international level. Followed all that up by barely having to make a save in the Villa, Palace and West Brom matches and yet the Albion conceded three times.

Joel Veltman
Actually, we were lying when we said no Brighton player had been consistent in February. One has – Joel Veltman. The Flying Dutchman was solid in defence and a real threat going forward in every match he played, even showing the Albion’s attackers how to finish clinically with a crisp strike with his weaker left foot to equalise against Palace.

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Poll closes at 8pm on Sunday 7th March