Chelsea and Brighton seem to have their past and present intertwined at the moment.
The Blues bought Marc Cucurella in the summer from the Seagulls last summer for a huge sum, and then a couple of months later took their manager Graham Potter, as well as one of their sporting directors.
Since then Chelsea have collapsed into their worst season for a generation, while Brighton have had their best ever top flight campaign.
One thing Chelsea have been accused of lacking this season is a consistent goalscorer, but Brighton have proved you don’t need Harry Kane or Erling Haaland to win lots of games. Just look at their top scorer list in the Premier League, including players with 3 goals or more:
Alexis Mac Allister – 10
Pascal Groß – 9
Solly March – 7
Kaoru Mitoma – 7
Leandro Trossard – 7
Evan Ferguson – 6
Danny Welbeck – 6
Deniz Undav – 4
Julio Enciso – 3
Compare that to Chelsea’s:
Kai Havertz – 7
Raheem Sterling – 6
Conor Gallagher – 3
Joao Felix – 3
Mason Mount – 3
It’s a very similar pattern, with no one player standing out with more than 10 goals on either team. The difference is that after Chelsea have just 2 players who have more than 3 goals, wheras Brughton have 8.
By being a fearsome attacking unit overall they overcome the need for one star goalscorer in particular, and instead have goals coming from throughout the team and the squad.
In young Evan Ferguson they also have a player who looks very likely to be able to go on and become a 20 per season striker – so they could do even better next year.
