Adam Lallana becoming more important all the time for Albion

He also turned in his most involved and influential contribution to one of their matches.

The naked eye probably told you that if you saw the game.

His numbers certainly do – and underline the massive part he can play for the Seagulls as they aim for take-off after a tough start to the season.

Lallana has already played more minutes in the league this season than he did for Liverpool throughout 2019-20.

He actually passed his 374 minutes of last term late on at Tottenham.

On his sixth start for the club, he had by far his greatest number of touches and passes yet for the Seagulls as they looked to break down the Clarets.

Those are basic stats. One suspects more detailed and technical data is available to Graham Potter and his staff if they need it. But those numbers have to be encouraging.

Of course the numbers are going to be greater for a full 90 minutes than, for example, the hour he somewhat contentiously had against West Brom.

Or the 70-odd minutes he enjoyed against Crystal Palace and Manchester United.

But even on a pro-rata basis, the stats for the 0-0 draw with the Clarets were markedly up on those other games he started.

Maybe it was the presence of both Danny Welbeck and Neal Maupay which opened up spaces for him to move into.

Maybe it was the fact Albion were on the front foot for most of the game, which certainly was not the case against the Baggies.

But, on Friday, Lallana had 74 touches of the ball and played 57 passes, according to stats on whoscored.com.

That compares to 45 touches and 35 passes at Tottenham, when he also played 90 minutes.

Different challenges and different opponents, of course, but Albion had plenty of the game at Tottenham.

Against West Brom, he played two-thirds of the match, touching the ball 31 times and playing 23 passes.

At that rate, you are looking at about 46 touches and 35 passes across a full game.

It felt like he was in the thick of it at Selhurst Park when he started his run of, so far, four successive Prem starts.

But the numbers say differently, with 27 touches and 18 passes across 77 minutes, which is about five-sixths of the match.

In other words, about 32 touches and 22 passes per 90 minutes.

The 3-2 defeat by Manchester United brought 44 touches and 34 passes, which equates to about 53 touches and 42 passes in a full match.

Lallana’s other start was the game which saw him play less than half the match at home to Chelsea.

In 44 minutes he had 24 touches and played 18 passes, so you can double those numbers to get an approximate guide for the full 90.

There is another area where his figures for those full 90 minutes – in the last two matches - show a contrast.

He ranked ninth among the Albion team in terms of touching the ball at Spurs and seventh for the number of passes played.

In the 0-0 with Burnley, he was fifth in the Seagulls team for touches – and just five more would have seen him top the list.

Such is the way Albion build up play, defenders like Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk or Joel Veltman tend to get on the ball most or play the most passes.

Lallana had three goal attempts against Burnley and played three of what whoscored.com call “key passes”, with no team-mate producing more than that.

He ranks ninth among the Albion squad for league minutes played this season, home and away.

But only four outfield players have spent longer than him on the pitch at the Amex.

Stats like that have to be key to Albion’s progress.

To get probably the most creative player – and certainly their most experienced player of that type – involved as much as they can for as long as they can is key.

Asked whether Lallana’s back-to-back 90 minutes were great news for Albion, head coach Potter said: “It’s really good news for Adam more than anything.

“I think we have tried really hard to build him up and understand that he has come from Liverpool, where he has played a very different role to the one he is playing now with us in terms of how many minutes he is playing.

“So that has taken a bit of consideration but I think we have built him up well and credit to him.

“He has settled in with us really well, gives a lot on the pitch and off the pitch.

“I think he will get better as he starts to understand more and more about his team-mates and his team-mates get to understand him. I’m delighted for him.”

That issue of building up minutes was a thorny one not long ago.

There were some questions asked two weeks ago this evening when he was removed from the West Brom game on the hour in a pre-planned move.

Potter said in his post-match press session that night that he might revisit that decision.

But he was a bit more defensive of the call when he spoke to reporters again later in the week, seemingly unhappy at suggestions Lallana had gone off too soon.

The key thing is that the issue of limiting his minutes seems to now be in the past.

READ MORE: Welbeck has no doubts

Lallana was speaking in terms of disappointment on Friday that the next game would not be for two more weeks due to the international break.

Numbers suggest it is not just his minutes which are on the increase.

And he should have a couple of assists by now too!