Vote now for your WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for April 2018
It might have been a winless April for Brighton and Hove Albion, but three draws and one defeat left the Seagulls looking likely to be playing Premier League football next season bar a mathematical miracle from one of the sides below them in the table.
Avoiding defeat against Huddersfield Town was arguably more important than winning the game and the Albion got a point courtesy of a 1-1 draw against the Terriers thanks to an own goal. It could’ve been even more had Shane Duffy not suffered a moment of madness to give the visitors their equaliser.
The less said about the visit to rivals Crystal Palace the better, some woeful defending allowing the Eagles to take a 3-2 victory. That was one of the worst performances of the season and Brighton followed it up in typical fashion with one of their best in drawing 1-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur through Pascal Gross’ penalty.
The month was rounded off with a hugely encouraging draw away at Europa League-bound Burnley with Maty Ryan and the back four again excelling in a 0-0 at one of the toughest places in the Premier League to go. Gaetan Bong was particularly impressive at Turf Moor given the torrent of abuse he had to face down after having the nerve to report his belief that we was racially abused by Jay Rodriguez.
Gaetan Bong
Struggled against Crystal Palace on a day in which none of the back four covered themselves in glory but was superb against Burnley, especially given the relentless booing he received from the locals for reporting being racially abused by Jay Rodriguez.
Bruno
The Albion captain returned to the side after the defensive debacle against Crystal Palace and was hugely impressive in dealing with the threat of Son Heung-min in the draw with Tottenham Hotspur and with helping secure the clean sheet in the draw at Burnley.
Pascal Gross
Covered every single blade of grass in the draw with Spurs in which he also successfully converted a penalty to ensure Germany keeps up its fine reputation as producing great takers of kicks from 12 yards.
Beram Kayal
The Israeli international was afforded another run in the starting line up thanks to Davy Propper’s three game suspension for getting sent off against Huddersfield Town and he was one of the few players to emerge from the Palace game with any credit and turned into a one man blocking machine in the game with Spurs.
Davy Propper
Was instantly restored to the starting line up after his suspension against United despite Beram Kayal’s good form and justified that decision by giving two further excellent performances which culminated in assisting Leonardo Ulloa’s goal at City.
Maty Ryan
One outrageous save right at the end of the first half against Spurs was followed up with another brilliant showing at Burnley. He had his first poor game for the club at Palace but the fact he has got this far into the season without a howler says everything about his level of performances throughout the campaign so far.
Dale Stephens
Returned from a month-long on the sidelines with a “minor knock” for the draw with Huddersfield. The Albion lost every game he was missing for so for the fact we are unbeaten since his return tells you everything about his importance to the side.
