Can Brighton actually qualify for Europe this season?
What a season it has been on the South Coast. Did anyone truly expect the Seagulls to be flying higher than ever before as the current English top-flight campaign reaches its climax?
Especially when long-time manager Graham Potter departed to the club to take over at Chelsea back in September? Even without their talented former manager, Brighton & Hove Albion have taken the Premier League by storm this season.
As the campaign enters its final third, the Seagulls are just seven points behind fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and they have three games in hand on their more illustrious rivals. Could UEFA Champions League football actually be coming to the Amex next season? It couldn’t, could it?
New manager Roberto De Zerbi lets fans dare to dream
Not too many Brighton fans had heard of Roberto De Zerbi when he was appointed as the departing Potter’s successor. But if one takes a look at his stellar resume, one would notice quickly that he transformed lowly Sassuolo into one of Serie A’s most exciting and competitive
teams.
He then did a stellar job at Shakhtar Donetsk before global events meant that he had to leave the club through no fault of his own.
But he has picked up at the Amex where he left off in Ukraine. If anything, he has performed even better than any Gulls fan could ever imagine.
In his first game in charge, he led his new side to an impressive 3-3 draw against Liverpool at Anfield, and similarly breath taking results have followed, including an FA Cup semi final appearance for just the third time in the club’s history.
With the English top-flight campaign reaching its business end, Brighton are still unbelievably in contention for Champions League football.
Admittedly the club still has tough tests on the horizon in the form of trips to Tottenham, Chelsea, and Arsenal, as well as hosting Manchester City at the Amex, but with how the season has gone thus far, don’t be surprised to see De Zerbi’s men pick up points in those games.
European ambitions
In all fairness, the Champions League is probably a step too far, but the club only needs a top seven finish to secure European football for the first time in the club’s history. And that is a very real possibility.
They are currently in seventh place in the table, with two games in hand on the teams directly below them. That would be good enough for a spot in the UEFA Europa Conference League next term.
If the Seagulls can somehow manage to finish in fifth or sixth, and they also have games in hand on the teams occupying those spots currently, then that would be good enough for a spot in the UEFA Europa League.
Whether De Zerbi and co can finish the job remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain, the club has certainly come a long way since the days of the Withdean.
