Brighton & Hove Albion 2020-21 season predictions

The 2020-21 Premier League season is almost upon us and we have decided to do something which we have never done before at WeAreBrighton.com Towers – predictions for what is going to happen to Brighton.

There is plenty of scope for egg on face here. Come the end of May and the completion of the season (presuming that little thing called coronavirus does not get in the way again), we might find ourselves reading this thing back and asking if we were on drugs at the time of writing it.

But we are going to take the risk anyway and put our necks on the line. Here are our Brighton & Hove Albion 2020-21 predictions.

Brighton’s 2020-21 Player of the Season will be Yves Bissouma
No player has improved under Graham Potter quite like Yves Bissouma. A year ago, nobody really knew where he fitted in. He did not have the defensive discipline nor the work rate to play as a holding midfielder, neither was he creative enough on a consistent basis to fill a more attacking brief.

All of that changed in December when Dale Stephens – who had been enjoying a fine season up to that point – was suspended for the small matter of Crystal Palace away.

Potter replaced Stephens with Bissouma, a decision which at the time raised plenty of eyebrows. The results however have been extraordinary.

Bissouma put in some impressive performances between December and February, but it was post-lockdown that he really shone. He was easily Brighton’s best player in the last nine games of the season and that form has continued into the Albion’s friendly matches so far.

There has never been any doubt about Bissouma’s talent. The question marks came over his best position and whether he could develop consistency in his game.

Bissouma answered the first of those by usurping Stephens as Potter’s first choice holding player. If he can answer the second and deliver over the course of a 38 game season, then he will be a shoe-in for Player of the Year come May.

Brighton’s 2020-21 breakout star will be Tariq Lamptey
The easiest of predictions for Brighton & Hove Albion’s 2020-21 season is who the breakout star will be. Tariq Lamptey only came into the first team post-lockdown, but in that time he has already made the right back shirt his own to the point that Potter felt comfortable enough to allow former Champions League winner Martin Montoya to leave for Real Bettis.

Normally, we would err on the side of caution when it comes to bigging up a young player. Peaks and troughs in performances are all par for the course when it comes to teenagers taking their first steps in the game.

There is something about Lamptey that is different. He screams class, he has come through the best talent factory in the country at Chelsea and is clearly ambitious having turned down the safe option of a new deal at Stamford Bridge in search of first team football. How many players aged 19 do that?

If England were not so well stocked at right back – Trent Alexander-Arnold, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Kyle Walker, Reece James and Kieran Tripper is not a bad little roster – then Lamptey could feasibly be a dark horse for Euro 2020 (in 2021) selection.

Brighton supporters know just how good Lamptey is already. The rest of the country is going to find out this season.

Brighton’s 2020-21 top scorer will be Neal Maupay
We are writing this at a point in time where Brighton’s only strikers are Neal Maupay and Aaron Connolly, so it is pretty obvious that one of those will be leading the scoring charts – and it is hard to look beyond Le Petit French Shithouse.

Maupay’s return of 10 goals in 2019-20 was impressive for a 23-year-old in his first ever season of top flight football. History suggests he improves in his second year at a club too.

At Brentford, Maupay notched 13 in his debut campaign in all competitions. In his second year at Griffin Park, that total jumped to 28, convincing Brighton to pay a club-record £20 million for his services.

Should the Albion find this £30 million striker who scores 100 goals, then the new man could well take the top scorer accolade. Right now, it is Maupay who will be top of the goals charts when it comes to most peoples’ Brighton 2020-21 predictions.

Brighton’s 2020-21 surprise success will be Jayson Molumby
Lots of fans seem to be tipping Alireza Jahanbakhsh to be Brighton & Hove Albion’s surprise success in 2020-21, but that seems to be based out of hope more than any logic being applied to the predictions process.

Whilst most of us want him to succeed because it would clearly mean so much to a player with an exemplary attitude, the cold, hard truth is that Potter simply does not rate him. Jahanbakhsh could not even make a nine man bench regularly in the final nine games of last season.

In terms of a player excelling who you might not expect, instead keep an eye on Jayson Molumby. The young Irishman helped drive Millllllllllll’s play off push last season and has already made his full debut for the Republic of Ireland.

Perhaps most impressive of all is that he is one of the very few young players who Chris Hughton actually rated. Hughton was more uncomfortable using youth than a vegan at a meat raffle and yet he started a teenage Molumby twice in League Cup ties in 2017-18 and had him in and around the first team squad until a knee problem ruled Molumby out for 15 months.

If Hughton was willing to use Molumby, then he must be talented. The player has already said that if he is not in the first team picture, he will seek another loan to play regularly in the Championship. It will be intriguing to see what Potter does with him in 2020-21.

Brighton’s 2020-21 finishing position will be 13th
We have read bold predictions stating that Brighton will be top 10 in 2020-21and whilst we would love to share that enthusiasm, this looks like being a stronger Premier League than in recent years based on what clubs have done in the transfer market so far.

A 13th place finish seems much more realistic. It would represent progress on last season’s 15th spot, equal the Albion’s best ever finish from the 1981-82 season and presumably break the record points tally of 41 achieved by Potter and his players in 2019-20.

Tony Bloom’s stated ambition is to turn Brighton into a top 10 Premier League club and short of chucking millions and millions around, that does not happen overnight. Finishing 13th is another small step on the steady journey towards Bloom’s ambitious aim.

WAB’s predicted Premier League table 2020-21

1) Manchester City
2019-20 was a hugely disappointing year for Pep Guardiola’s squad bought with a billion petrodollars. Hardly surprising given two seasons of utter domination, but expect them to bounce back to their best in 2020-21.
2) Liverpool
Liverpool have dropped only a handful of points since 2018, meaning they face the same challenge that undid City – being consistently excellent for a third year in a row. Standards have to slip at Anfield at some point soon.
3) Chelsea
Frank Lampard seems to be going for the “You score four, we score five” approach by signing millions of pounds worth of attackers whilst ignoring his sides very obvious defensive issues. Chelsea will be bloody fun to watch.
4) Manchester United
United have looked a different team since Bruno Fernandes’ arrival. Still not convinced on Ole Gunnar Solksjaer as a top level manager and he ultimately might be the reason they finish no higher than fourth.
5) Everton
Every season it looks like being the year Everton break back into Europe and every year they fall short. Why will this season be different? They have a world class manager in Carlo Ancelotti and are making great additions such as James Rodriguez.
6) Tottenham Hotspur
Does Jose Mourinho still have it and can his brand of football work at Spurs? Possibly – until Harry Kane picks up a predictable winter injury to leave him in a race against time to be fit for the Euros.
7) Wolverhampton Wanderers
That Wolves finished seventh last season was seriously impressive given Nuno worked with a small squad and they went far in the Europa League. They will be knocking on the door of the top six again.
8) Arsenal
Mikel Arteta has made a good start to his managerial career, winning the FA Cup and the Community Shield inside a year. Their defence does not look to have improved however and that will prevent Arsenal getting the consistent results needed to break back into the top six.
9) Leicester City
Leicester were Liverpool’s closest challenges for the top spot last autumn. A pretty alarming slump saw them miss out on the top four by the end of the campaign. If that downwards trend continues, then they may find several of their rivals overtaking them.
10) Southampton
After losing 9-0 to Leicester last October, it seemed like when, not if, Southampton would sack manager Ralph Hasenhüttl. The Saints improved markedly after that, took to Hasenhüttl’s style and should continue moving upwards.
11) Newcastle United
Newcastle fans have spent most of the summer crying because a regime which murders its critics by cutting them into pieces inside an embassy were banned from taking over. Whilst all that has been going on, Steve Bruce has been making some shrewd signings which will keep them a long way away from the battle at the bottom.
12) Burnley
Storm clouds were meant to be gathering over Burnley but they have managed to keep Sean Dyche at Turf Moor. That is enough to have them in mid table again.
13) Brighton & Hove Albion
For the first time since we won promotion to the Premier League in 2017, our predictions do not involve a relegation battle for Brighton in 2020-21. Have we tempted fate by being overly positive for once?
14) Crystal Palace
Ebere Eze is a fantastic signing for Crystal Palace and although their fans may bemoan another year of mid table mediocrity, Roy Hodgson will do what he does best and ensure they survive for an eighth successive season.
15) Sheffield United
The Blades caught the Premier League by surprise in 2019-20. They cannot surely do the same again, especially with dreaded second season syndrome a threat.
16) 1982 European Cup winners Aston Villa
Despite winning the 1982 European Cup, Aston Villa found it hard on their return to the Premier League last season. They just about survived, Dean Smith has picked up some decent additions and if they hold onto Jack Grealish, they should have enough to avoid relegation again.
17) The Leeds United
What do you mean The Leeds United are not going to come straight into the top flight and qualify for the Champions League?
18) West Bromwich Albion
It is notoriously hard to come from the Championship and avoid relegation, even more so when the gap between seasons is a little over a month. West Brom have their work cut out, especially as it did not look like a particularly strong second tier last time out.
19) West Ham United
David Moyes has kept West Ham United up twice already, but he will be hard pushed to repeat the trick in 2020-21. When your captain is tweeting his disappointment at the owners, you have problems running far deeper than what happens on the pitch.
20) Fulham
Fulham at least seem to have learned the lessons of their last brief stay in the Premier League and are not chucking millions around with no real thought as to what it has been spent on. They have made some solid signings but will still struggle in a top flight which looks tougher than the one they were relegated from two years ago.