Albion Analytics: 2024 wrapped

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Liam Tharme

Albion Analytics

2025-01-02T06:00+00:00

Joao Pedro celebrates scoring the winner against Manchester City. 📷 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion brought their 2024 to a close with a 2-2 draw away to Aston Villa, ending a year of ups and downs but plenty of firsts and success.

It was always going to be a challenge to match the levels of 2023, when Albion set club calendar year records for Premier League wins (19), points (68) and goals (82), amassing over 100 goals across all competitions. That earned Brighton Europa League football, which partially took its toll in 2024 as a reflection of scheduling intensity plus injuries.

Brighton ended 2024 with ten wins, 15 draws and 13 defeats, playing the equivalent of a full Premier League season and amassing 45 points, which is by no means the upper-end of their performance capabilities but a reflection of them stabilising — especially when more established Premier League teams have either been relegated or involved in relegation scraps in recent seasons.

They started the year in strong enough fashion, with big FA Cup wins away to Stoke (4-2) and Sheffield United (5-2), and their first clean sheets of the 2023-24 Premier League season in 0-0 draws against West Ham and Wolves.

Brighton won more games in the previous three calendar years than 2024 however they are beginning to rebuild a defensive base which was lost a little under Roberto De Zerbi, who prioritised all-out attacking football. Albion only lost consecutive matches twice in 2024, at the end of April and end of May (the final two games of the season), winning consecutive matches three times in the league.

They actually conceded five fewer goals than last year (57 compared to 62), and kept ten clean sheets, which only four Premier League teams could better, and is an improvement on 2023 (8) and 2022 (9). The establishment of Lewis Dunk and Jan Paul van Hecke as the first-choice centre-back pairing (and Bart Verbruggen as No 1) was a highlight of the year. Brighton only lost four of the 19 matches that trio started across all competitions in 2024.

Jan Paul van Hecke made 17 appearances in the first half of the Premier League season. 📷 by James Boardman.

Further, Premier League opponents only completed 20.8% of crosses against Brighton in 2024, the second-best box-defending team behind Arsenal (18.3%) and they came out third for most offsides drawn (98). It shows a side capable of defending in various ways.

Their 15 draws are also the joint-most, with Everton, and head coach Fabian Hurzeler, who succeeded De Zerbi in the summer, has emphasised the need for these to become learning experiences. That is particularly relevant for such a young squad. Four of Brighton’s six most-played players in the league this season are under 24 and make up the central spine of the team: goalkeeper Verbruggen, centre-back van Hecke, central midfielder Carlos Baleba and No 9 Joao Pedro.

Brighton gave almost 9,000 minutes to under-21s in the Premier League in 2024, marginally down on 2023 (10,606) but a continuation of a trend where youngsters form the core of the team — from 2018-2022, Brighton never gave more than 3,700 league minutes to under-21s in a calendar year.

Of Brighton’s six youngest starting XIs in Premier League history, five have been this calendar year, including the team which lined up against Aston Villa on December 30th, with an average age of 23.8.

Youngsters tend to lack experience and inconsistency is an accepted part of development, meaning Brighton’s best moments of the year come more in the form of games than any runs. There were three wins over ‘Big Six’ opposition, all under Hurzeler and at the Amex, from behind against Tottenham Hotspur (4-2, from 2-0 down) and Manchester City (2-1), plus an injury-time winner over Manchester United (2-1).

The standout win of the year came in February, when Brighton beat Crystal Palace 4-1 at the Amex for the biggest win in the fixture by either side since 2002.

The New Years’ resolution will be to turn draws into wins and better manage games, as only Brentford (21) dropped more points from winning positions in the Premier League in 2024 than Brighton (19), though important foundations have been laid. The club find themselves, among a tightly-packed top-half, just four points behind Manchester City in sixth-place, and with a fair chance of returning to European football in 2025 should they produce a strong second-half of the season.