Brighton: What a wonderful season it is to look back on for the seagulls

The 2021/22 Premier League season: a season to remember for Brighton & Hove Albion and those at the Falmer Stadium as they secured their highest finish in the Premier League era.

Brighton finished the season in a position no pundit nor person expected them to. This superb run just about “bettered” their best top-flight campaign of 1982. Back then in a 42-game season, the Seagulls ended on 52 points while this season they completed proceedings on 51 points in a 38-match Premier League campaign.

"For whilst the Albion’s current high of 44 is their best from the club’s present spell in the top flight, there was life before the Premier League came along in 1992. Brighton secured their best ever finish in the 1981-82 season under the management of Mike Bailey. 13th spot – a position that Potter and co look well placed to better with three games of 2021-22 left to play – was achieved with 52 points. Back then, the old Division One was made up of 22 teams. The Class of 1982 therefore played four more matches than the current crop, so the best way to compare the records of the two sides is on a points-per-game basis. 52 points won over 42 matches equates to 1.23 points-per-game. Multiply that number by the 38 games that Brighton will complete in the 2021-22 Premier League campaign and you get 47.04. (Via: wearebrighton.com)"

Graham Potter, getting better with each season, has claimed some big scalps in the league run with their best performances coming against some of the bigger teams in the league. The most notable and well-worked win was against a struggling Manchester United, beating them 4-0 at Falmer Stadium.

This match perfectly embodied the Seagulls’ excellent run and how well they competed under Potter. It was first thought that they would struggle at the back, having lost a key center-back, Ben White, to Arsenal in the summer prior to the season kicking off.

However, the Seagulls ended with fewer goals conceded than Arsenal, who signed the Englishman for £50m. The former ended with 44 goals conceded while the latter let by 48 goals.

A crazy stat to explain how well they did without White: against the other top-six sides, Brighton collected nine points, the same amount of points as the Gunners but did it while losing fewer games (Arsenal had seven losses while Brighton only lost five games).

Brighton’s Premier League stats

• Games Played: 38
• Wins: 12
• Draws: 15
• Losses: 11
• Goals For: 42
• Goals Against: 44
• Goals Scored Per 90: 1.11
• Goals Conceded Per 90: 1.16
• Clean Sheets: 11

The Seagulls cup runs

• FA Cup: Fourth Round exit against Tottenham
• EFL Cup: Fourth Round exit at the hands of Leicester City

Lots of takeaways from a top-of-the-table finish for Potter and the boys. Arguably their best signing and decision has come from employing Potter as the head coach.