Words by Bec Nicol
2022 saw fantastic gains for Brighton & Hove Albion F.C, starting the Premier League with a victory over Manchester United. Following this, Brighton saw several other victories, bringing the team’s total to eight wins, landing them eighth in the Premier league tables. Quite a substantial leap, given that during the 2020-2021 season they ended up finishing sixteenth. Outside of the premier league, eight (which seemed to be the team’s lucky number last year) Seagull’s played in the world cup. This placed the Seagulls as the premier league team with the sixth-highest number of players in the world cup, behind teams such as Chelsea and Arsenal. The team included Alexis MacAllister, who played for Argentina, the winners of the world cup, with Alexis scoring one goal during the tournament. Hopefully, the world cup experience, and stellar performances from all players involved should have given the Seagulls that extra bit of practice, which is already making all the difference this coming season.
Starting off 2023 with two matches, the Seagulls have managed to land back to back victories. On the third of January, at Goodison Park, the team scored a four – one win against Everton. During the match, Sky news described the upcoming year ‘As Brighton’s season of promise’. The teams dominance in the match was epic, a hopeful foreboding of a coming year of consistent wins, perhaps?
For now, at least, that seems to be the case. On the seventh of January, the Seagulls scored an even greater victory against Middlesbrough, with a five – one victory. Once again, the team towered over its opponents, with possession of the ball 68% of the time.
So where to from here? On the twenty-first of January, Brighton and Hove will face off against the ever strong Liverpool. Will this pattern of victory keep up? Will the Seagulls be the team to watch in 2023? Perhaps the idea of the Premier league trophy being displayed at Falmer isn’t quite the impossible dream it would have been a few years ago. Will t-shirts displaying a blue and white seagull become as common as a shirt displaying a yellow shield, or red and white cannon? So far, it seems as though the odds are rapidly rising.
Photo Credits: Craig Mercer/MB Media/GettyImages
