We are four games into the new Premier League season, and Brighton & Hove Albion are the side that top the goalscoring charts.
The Seagulls have found the net 13 times already this term, their most at this stage of any of their 14 seasons in the top flight.
Fabian Hurzeler’s side put four past Aston Villa on the opening weekend. They were then were unlucky to come out on the wrong end of a 4-3 thriller against Chelsea, before hitting newly promoted Coventry City for five last weekend.
Brighton’s exploits are all the more impressive considering they sold last season’s top scorer Danny Welbeck to Chelsea.
The Seagulls also currently have a lengthy injury list, featuring the likes of Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma, Jack Hinshelwood, Stefanos Tzimas, Georginio Rutter among injury absentees.
So, what’s been the key to their sharp shooting? Let’s take a closer look…
Sharing them out
Not one or two players have taken the lead and been responsible for Brighton’s early surge of goals; it’s been very much a team effort.
Indeed, there have been seven different scorers thus far, from all over the field. Pascal Gross, Jack Hinshelwood and Malick Yalcouye share the lead at the top of the Seagulls’ charts, with two each.
All three players are primarily midfielders, while Lewis Dunk and Luka Vuskovic have also got in on the act from centre-half.
Dunk did so in spectacular fashion during the latter stages of the 5-0 rout of Coventry, with his dipping 25-yard strike the pick of the goals. It came just under seven years after he also found the net from outside the area against Liverpool in November 2019.
Vuskovic also demonstrated his goalscoring prowess when he was on target in the 1-1 draw with Leeds United. He’s scored seven goals across Europe’s big five leagues (seven) since the start of last season, more than any other centre-half during that time.
Fountain of youth
Following Welbeck’s departure to Chelsea, there has been a significant change at the spearhead of Brighton’s attack.
Indeed, experience has been replaced by youth, with Charalampos Kostoulas leading the line in three of their four Premier League games so far this season.
They will also have another young Greek forward to turn to, when 20-year-old Stefanos Tzimas returns from injury.
With Kostoulas, 20-year-old Yalcouye (two) and 19-year-old Vuskovic on target this season, four of the eight goals scored by players aged 21 or under have come from Brighton.
A greater cutting edge
As touched upon earlier, this is Brighton’s most prolific start to a top-flight season in their history.
Among the reasons for this is that they have been more clinical in front of goal, tried their luck from often, and put the ball in the box more often.
With 13 goals, Brighton have outperformed their xG of 10.18. That’s something they didn’t manage to do at the same stage of the previous two seasons, with four goals from an xG of 6.83 last term and six goals from a 6.97 xG in 2024-25.
Not only that, the Seagulls have almost doubled their amount of shots on target from inside the box, with 21 compared to 11 after their opening four games of last season.
Brighton have also had 120 touches in the opposing box, compared with 100 last term, though they had registered 134 by this stage of 2024-25.
That increase is largely due to the fact Hurzeler’s side played the ball into the box (including crosses) 84 times after their opening four games of last season, but have significantly increased that tally to 149 this time around.
