Football Season Guide

In a season of some costly ups and down, Brighton paid for an eight-game winless run mid-season that saw them finish eighth in the table, missing out on European qualification. Boasting the league’s joint fifth-best attack (66 goals), the Seagulls struggled to find cohesion in defence, conceding 59 times. Starting striker João Pedro and starting left-back Pervis Estupiñán departed the team, who opted for the prodigious duo of Charalampos Kostoulas and Maxim De Cuyper to replace them. Brighton’s 32-year-old boss Fabian Huerzeler has managed to keep the backbone intact, also strengthening the defence with the arrivals of Diego Coppola and Olivier Boscagli. Staying true to their philosophy, Brighton added young, talented and relatively unknown players to their squad. Having already gained one year of experience in the top flight, Huerzeler has seen some of his players pick up minor knocks here and there during pre-season, with backup centre-back Adam Webster suffering a long-term injury. Despite the departure of João Pedro, Brighton’s attack should be their main strength for one more season. Greek duo Kostoulas and Stefanos Tzimas will complement experienced Danny Welbeck and talented Georginio Rutter, with Yankuba Minteh and Kaoru Mitoma creating from the wings. What needs to be improved is Brighton’s defence. Jan Paul van Hecke has been solid at the back, but newcomers De Cuyper, Coppola and Boscagli need to prove that they’re upgrades to a defence that conceded 59 goals last term – the league’s seventh-highest tally.