Brighton Premier League Fixtures, Squad, Guide
In their first season in the top flight for 34 years, Brighton comfortably avoided the relegation zone and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. After splashing £60m on new players last time out, spending may be reined in this summer, although they have signed Romanian forward Florin Andone (Deportivo, £5m), Nigeria defender Leon Balogun (Mainz, free) and Brazilian midfielder Bernardo (RB Leipzig, £9m).
Annual wage bill – £31.3m (2017)
Annual income – £29.2m (2017)
Stadium Amex (30,750)
Odds – 1,000-1 to win Premier League
FAN’S VIEW
Scott McCarthy, wearebrighton.com
LAST SEASON WAS…
Absolutely superb. The only aim we had at the start of the campaign was to survive in the Premier League by any means possible, so to finish in 15th spot and end up a comfortable seven points clear of the relegation zone was a fantastic achievement.
OUR BIGGEST HERO
Without Mat Ryan in goal we’d have been relegated. He won us at least 10 points across the season and he is a genuinely likeable bloke, sprinting the length of the pitch to celebrate with outfield players whenever we score at the Amex.
OUR BIGGEST VILLAIN
Sussex Police didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory for the home game with Palace, telling the press that visiting fans had turned up with knuckledusters and knives when all that really happened was that they allowed Palace’s Blazing Squad tribute band, a lot of whom didn’t have tickets, to break into the stadium, which left genuine Palace fans with tickets stranded outside.
YOUNGSTER TO WATCH
Despite spending over £6m on players for the development squad since 2015 and the under-23s winning promotion to PL2 Division One, not one of them has made a league debut.
Midfielder Dale Stephens (Getty Images)
MOST UNDERRATED PLAYER
Dale Stephens. He’s one of those players who you don’t notice quite how good he is until he isn’t there.
HOPES & FEARS For 2018-19
The best we could hope for is a top-10 finish and another memorable cup run following our first FA Cup quarter-finals appearance for 32 years. It would also be nice to win more than two away games and score more than 10 goals on the road. As for fears, well second-season syndrome is one but the club seem to be very keen to talk about that, probably based on Chris Hughton’s experience at Norwich, so hopefully it’s something we can avoid.
Brighton Premier League Squad
Name Age / d.o.b. Signed / prev club
GOALKEEPERS
David Button (29) 27.02.89 2018 / Fulham
Mat Ryan (Aus) (26) 08.04.92 2017 / Valencia (Spa)
Jason Steele (27) 18.08.90 2018 / Sunderland
DEFENDERS
Leon Balogun (Nga) (30) 28.06.88 2018 / Mainz (Ger)
Gaetan Bong (Cam) (30) 25.04.88 2015 / Wigan Athletic
Bruno (Spa) (37) 01.10.80 2012 / Valencia (Spa)
Shane Duffy (RoI) (26) 01.01.92 2016 / Blackburn Rovers
Lewis Dunk (26) 21.11.91 2010 / youth
Ezequiel Schelotto (Ita) (29) 23.05.89 2017 / Sporting (Por)
Markus Suttner (Aut) (31) 16.04.87 2017 / Ingolstadt (Ger)
Leo Ostigard (Nor) (18) 28.11.1999 2018 / Molde (Nor)
Dan Burn (26) 09.05.1992 2018 / Wigan Athletic
MIDFIELDERS
Bernardo (Bra) (23) 14.05.95 2018 / RB Leipzig (Ger)
Pascal Gross (Ger) (27) 15.06.91 2017 / Ingolstadt (Ger)
Jose Izquierdo (Col) (26) 07.07.92 2017 / Club Brugge (Blg)
Beram Kayal (Isr) (30) 02.05.88 2015 / Celtic (Sco)
Anthony Knockaert (Fra) (26) 20.11.91 2016 / Standard Liege (Blg)
Solly March (24) 20.07.94 2013 / Lewes
Oliver Norwood (NI) (27) 12.04.91 2016 / Reading
Davy Propper (Hol) (26) 02.09.91 2017 / PSV (Hol)
Jiri Skalak (CzR) (26) 12.03.92 2016 / Mlada Boleslav (CzR)
Dale Stephens (29) 12.06.89 2014 / Charlton Athletic
Richie Towell (RoI) (27) 17.07.91 2015 / Dundalk (RoI)
Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Ira) (24) 11.08.1993 2018 / AZ Alkmaar
Bill Arce (Ecu) (20) 12.07.1998 2018 / Independiente
Peter Gwargis (Swe) (17) 04.09.2000 2018/ Jonkopings Sodra
FORWARDS
Florin Andone (Rom) (25) 11.04.93 2018 / Dep La Coruna (Spa)
Sam Baldock (29) 15.03.89 2014 / Bristol City
Tomer Hemed (Isr) (31) 02.05.87 2015 / Almeria (Spa)
Jurgen Locadia (Hol) (24) 07.11.93 2018 / PSV (Hol)
Glenn Murray (34) 25.09.83 2017 / Bournemouth
Percy Tau (SA) (24) 13.05.1994 2018 / Mamelodi Sundowns
MANAGER
Chris Hughton (59) 11.12.58 2014 / Norwich City
Chris Hughton takes charge of Brighton in 2018/19 (Getty Images)
Brighton Premier League Fixtures
Aug 11 Watford (a) – lost 2-0
Aug 19 Man United (h) – won 3-2
Aug 25 Liverpool (a) – lost 1-0
Sep 1 Fulham (h) – drew 2-2
Sep 17 Southampton (a) – drew 2-2
Sep 22 Tottenham (h) – lost 2-1
Sep 29 Manchester City (a) – lost 2-0
Oct 6 West Ham (h) – won 1-0
Oct 20 Newcastle (a) – won 1-0
Oct 27 Wolves (h) – won 1-0
Nov 3 Everton (a) – lost 3-1
Nov 10 Cardiff City (a)
Nov 24 Leicester City (h)
Dec 1 Huddersfield (a)
Dec 4 Crystal Palace (h)
Dec 8 Burnley (a)
Dec 15 Chelsea (h)
Dec 22 Bournemouth (a)
Dec 26 Arsenal (h)
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Dec 29 Everton (h)
Jan 1 West Ham (a)
Jan 12 Liverpool (h)
Jan 19 Man United (a)
Jan 29 Fulham (a)
Feb 2 Watford (h)
Feb 9 Burnley (h)
Feb 23 Chelsea (a)
Feb 26 Leicester City (a)
Mar 2 Huddersfield (h)
Mar 9 Crystal Palace (a)
Mar 16 Cardiff City (h)
Mar 30 Southampton (h)
Apr 6 Tottenham (a)
Apr 13 Bournemouth (h)
Apr 20 Wolves (a)
Apr 27 Newcastle (h)
May 4 Arsenal (a)
May 12 Manchester City (h)
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