Brighton & Hove Albion, a club that only climbed from the Championship into the Premier League in 2017 and has since settled into mid-table security, currently sits among the established giants of English football. The upward trend has prompted the country's football press to ask whether Fabian Hürzeler's side can seriously challenge for the Champions League places this season.
The evidence is not limited to the league table. Brighton beat Arsenal 3-0 in September, and since Saturday Manchester City have joined the list of victims, leaving only two points separating the two sides. The Guardian predicted that both teams should be expected to be seen high up the standings until the end of the campaign.
Part of the explanation lies in Brighton's attacking output. The team has scored 24 goals in nine league matches, more than any other club, including a 4-0 win over Aston Villa and 5-0 victories against Coventry City and Crystal Palace. Hürzeler's side does not depend on a dominant centre-forward, with goals spread across several players and positions. At the other end, Brighton have conceded only seven goals and kept six clean sheets, which speaks to a high degree of tactical discipline alongside the attacking power.
Hürzeler has his players operating an aggressive, high press designed to disrupt opponents' build-up early and win the ball in dangerous areas. They close passing lanes and deliberately condense the pitch. One German international is central to putting that approach into practice: Pascal Groß.
The central midfielder previously played for Brighton from 2017 to 2024 and returned in January after his spell at Borussia Dortmund. At 35 he is one of the most experienced professionals in the squad, alongside captain Lewis Dunk, bringing creativity, stability and leadership to a team that lost important players in the summer transfer window. It could be argued that he has never been better or more important in his career than he is now.
Hürzeler, who is only 33, also works at a club known beyond England for its intelligent, data-driven talent scouting and the coaching that follows it. Yasin Ayari, who scored the decisive goal against Manchester City on Saturday, was identified and signed as a 19-year-old in Sweden and has since been developed through loans at other clubs. Now 23, he is an important pillar of Hürzeler's system. Maxim De Cuyper, signed from Club Brugge in 2025, is flourishing on the left flank as a replacement for the injured Kaoru Mitoma.
The club has shown patience in developing these players, and Hürzeler has benefited from the same approach. Results were far from consistently positive: in the second half of last season, the coach was booed by his own fans after a home defeat to rivals Crystal Palace, a derby that fell within a run of six games without a win and left Brighton in 14th place, too low even for the modest Seagulls support. Calls for his dismissal grew louder. "There are only two options," Hürzeler said in his defence, "give up or fight even harder." The club hierarchy stood by him. Brighton finished eighth and qualified for the UEFA Conference League, and Hürzeler was rewarded with a contract extension until 2029.
Team and coach must now prove that the success is sustainable rather than a passing high. That is likely to be difficult. As the intensity of the pressing makes itself felt in the players' legs over the course of the season, the high defensive line could become a risk, and the rush of victories by four goals or more cannot be reproduced at will. Groß, so important to the entire system, will need breaks given his workload in both the Premier League and the Conference League. Brighton travel to Getafe on Thursday before hosting an in-form Brentford side on Sunday.
Either way, the win over Manchester City is being treated in England as a statement, a confirmation that Brighton & Hove Albion must be reckoned with this year. But when Hürzeler invokes the cohesion and mindset of his team, it is because he knows one thing: the hurdles are likely to get higher rather than lower as the season unfolds.
Sources: FAZ.