Brighton & Hove Albion 2023-24 season predictions

Making football predictions is fraught with danger at the best of times but ahead of the 2023-24 Premier and Europa League seasons, trying to second-guess what will happen to Brighton is particularly challenging.

Maintain the level of football shown since Roberto De Zerbi replaced Glow Up Graham Potter in September and a finish even higher than 2022-23’s sixth place could be achieved.

Not many opponents have yet worked out how to counter DeZerbiBall. If that continues into the new season and with players recruited with that unique style of play in mind, who knows how far the Albion can go.

But what if the rest of the Premier League do find a way to overcome Brighton? What if playing Thursday nights in Europe and Sunday in the top flight hits the squad harder than anyone expects?

And how will the Albion cope having lost their midfield spine in Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo, two central planks of DeZerbiBall’s success?

So many questions which nobody really knows the answer too. Brighton could as feasibly finish in the top four as they might find themselves sucked back into lower mid table at the same time as winning the Europa League.

The one thing we do know is that it will not be dull. It never is with the Albion. And with the risk of ending up with a lot of egg on face, here are some predictions for Brighton in the 2023-24 season.

Brighton’s final finishing position will be ninth
Losing Mac Allister and Caicedo is huge. The Albion’s recruitment department might be amongst the best in the world, but even so it is hugely difficult to lose the spine of a team in one transfer window and it not lead to a drop off.

With that in mind and De Zerbi having acknowledged the importance of rotation in 2023-24 thanks to the extra commitments of the Europa League, predictions that Brighton will eclipse last season’s sixth place finish look optimistic.

Anything in the top 10 with an extended run in the FA Cup or Carabao Cup – as well as fun and games in Europe – would represent a fine campaign for Brighton.

De Zerbi is a man who wants to write history. He is already the first manager to take the Albion into Europe. Do not be surprised to see him focus his attentions on adding the club’s first ever piece of major silverware to his CV.

There is a reason 58 percent of Brighton fans think De Zerbi will lift a trophy as Seagulls head coach. All of which can lead into a ninth place finish whilst paying far more serious attention to the knockout competitions than other Premier League clubs do.

Pervis Estupinan will be Brighton 2023-24 Player of the Season
It is a welcome surprise that Estupinan has not been seriously linked with a move away from the Amex given his impressive debut campaign in English football.

Other clubs may bizarrely not have the left back on his radar, but Premier League fans are not blind to his talents. He is one of just three players to be owned by more than 50 percent of FPL managers ahead of the opening weekend of the campaign.

Estupinan’s ability at both ends of the pitch is what makes him so effective and so much fun. He also happens to be one of the fittest, reliable players in the Albion squad.

During that hectic period of 14 games in the final eight weeks of 2022-23, Estupinan was the last player to be rested by De Zerbi. And that was only for the first half of the final game of the campaign at Aston Villa before he replaced Joel Veltman.

Estupinan defends brilliantly. He sets up chances. And if he can score more goals than the solitary one he managed last season, that will be the final piece in the jigsaw to making him the most complete left back in the Premier League.

Predictions over Player of the Season are tricky, but Estupinan ticks every box to take the crown for Brighton in 2023-24. Before joining Chelsea next summer for £297 million.

Julio Enciso will be the breakout star at Brighton in 2023-24
Not even sure if this should count in 2023-24 predictions about Brighton as Enciso has arguably already burst onto the scene.

Four goals from 12 appearances through April and May included spectacular strikes against Chelsea and Manchester City, the latter of which won the Premier League Goal of the Season award.

From the moment he arrived in Sussex, Enciso had shown flashes of talent. His first eight months though were a mix of good moments and poor decisions, at the same time of lacking the physicality needed to cope with English football.

But it all came together for the teenager towards the end of the campaign. If he can maintain those levels of performance through 2023-24, then he has the potential to be one of the most exciting stars in the Premier League. Before joining Chelsea next summer for £297 million.

Joao Pedro will finish as Brighton top scorer in 2023-24
The Albion do not have a particularly good history when it comes to club record buys. Jurgen Locadia and Alireza Jahanbakhsh speak for themselves. Enock Mwepu meanwhile was a victim of a cruel retirement.

Can Joao Pedro buck the trend? He will do if our 2023-24 predictions of the £30 million signing from Watford to finish top scorer come true.

This bold shout is based on a couple of factors. Last season saw De Zerbi frequently rotate Danny Welbeck and Evan Ferguson leading the line. If that continues into 2023-24, their personal goal contributions will suffer for the good of the team.

Pedro on the other hand looks likely to be involved most weeks at number 10. Based on his taking of penalties in pre-season, he has also been appointed as spot kick heir to Mac Allister.

Of the nine Premier League goals Mac Allister scored last season on his way to winning the Albion Golden Boot, six were penalties.

If Brighton win as many spot kicks in 2023-24 as they did in 2022-23 and Pedro is on the pitch to take the majority of them, he will be hard to stop in the race to be top scorer. Before joining Chelsea next summer for £297 million.

The Europa League is going to be entertaining carnage for Brighton
With excitement building about the Albion’s first venture into Europe, everybody seems to be focussing on how incredible it is going to be rather than the potential carnage which awaits.

Depending on the draw, five percent away allocations have the potential to leave a lot of Brighton fans struggling to acquire tickets.

If the Albion end up paired with Klaksvig of the Faroe Islands for example, the Seagulls will receive just 130 seats of the 2,500 capacity Injector Arena.

That is a worst case scenario of course. And Klaksvig could yet be in the Champions League. But it presents some idea of the challenges the club face as demand is likely to far outstrip supply, even amongst those right at the top of the loyalty points tree.

Which is good news for those of us who love the annual meltdown over tickets and loyalty points. Expect the “I watched at the Goldstone and Withdean but have not been to an away game for 13 years” cards to be whipped out with increasing frequency.

Already we have seen the question posed at last week’s online Europa League Q&A, asking whether Seagulls supporters living in Spain can have priority if Brighton draw a Spanish club over fans who built up their points by going to all 19 Premier League away games last season.

Then there is what happens in Europe on the European tour. Brighton fans could be in for something of a rude awakening when it comes to their first experience of how Italian or Spanish police treat foreign football supporters, not to mention opposition Ultras groups.

Did somebody saw Ludogrets away, a scramble for 521 away tickets and a water cannoning from the Bulgarian police? Sign me up. Like we said, 2023-24 is certainly not going to be dull.