No rest for the wicked: What do Brighton have to do to stay up next season?
The end has no end. At least, that’s what it feels like when you’re a Brighton & Hove Albion fan because you’re always thinking about next season. Will it be the year that this plucky club defies the odds, or will Graham Potter’s men not manage to escape the drop?
There’s no way to tell until the 2021-22 season is complete and the points have been tallied. However, we can have a decent crack at evaluating what will need to happen for the Seagulls to remain in the Premier League. These are the hot topics to factor in before deciding Brighton’s fate.
Outgoing Transfers
Buying players is a massive part of the game for fans and the football club itself. For us, it brings excitement and makes us confident that we’ll push on as a team, while the players experience the same sensation. Unfortunately, Brighton & Hove Albion FC finds itself in the tricky position of developing quality young players.
Therefore, several of our best performers could be on other teams’ radars, making player retention our number one priority. For instance, Tariq Lamptey is wanted by Arsenal, Liverpool’s execs aim to replace Gini Wijnaldum with Yves Bissouma, and rumours suggest Ben White could be on the way to Man Utd.
If the club did invest in replacements well, though, it would likely justify the current Premier League betting odds of 5/1 to be relegated, which make us one of the favourites to remain in the EPL.
That said, the likes of Burnley, who are 5/2, would fancy their chances of ending the season above us as they historically keep their main men, such as Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, while recruiting experience in the likes of striker Chris Wood.
The papers have reported that one Premier League club may have got closer to signing Brighton's Yves Bissouma.
Gossip #bbcfootball
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) May 24, 2021
Planning for No Potter
When your top performers and manager are targeted by rival clubs, you know it’s going to be a difficult campaign. As it happens, Graham Potter is supposedly among the names to replace Jose Mourinho at Tottenham Hotspur, which is a job the most passionate Albion supporter understands he can’t turn down.
It’s not the fact that he will go that will swing the relegation odds out of favour, but the notion Potter could leave without the hierarchy planning for his departure.
Without a list of replacements and two or three candidates who could immediately take over, the squad would be in disarray and would likely not be competitive in the league.
As a result, the likelihood would be that Brighton become the favourites to be relegated; not Norwich (5/6) and Watford (11/10). The allure of Spurs probably would be too much to fight against, yet the club needs to be prepared to act to limit the damage.
Plateauing Seagulls
The manager himself alluded to the fact that the side’s performance levels dropped towards the end of the year, which could have been costly if Fulham hit a richer vein of form. The truth is that the team finished on 41 points, the same points as last term, which is strong evidence to suggest Potter is right.
The year before that, the 2018-19 season, Brighton were 17th after only managing 36 points and lucky to avoid the drop. In short, the club has been around the relegation zone for a couple of years and must take the initiative from the outset if progress is the aim. Relying on other sides being worse isn’t a savvy strategy.
Brighton & Hove Albion must invest in players while keeping some of the biggest stars, plan for interest in Graham Potter, and find a way not to let up when the squad hits the ground running. Hopefully, that’ll take us out of the relegation conversation for the upcoming season.
