There is a stat going around regarding Albion, possession and results.

It highlights how many of their wins have come when they have had relatively little of the ball.

You can add success at Southampton to the list now.

The Seagulls had 41% of possession in their 2-1 victory at St Mary’s.

Five of Albion’s wins this season (plus the home draw with Liverpool) have come in the eight games where their possession share has been the smallest.

(Although their smallest share of all came in defeat, albeit by only 1-0, at the Etihad).

Their only victory with more than 45% of possession was against tonight’s opponents, when they outclassed Newcastle to the tune of 3-0 very early in the season.

They had 54% of possession in that match.

Their record in ten games which saw them have 55% or more of the total possession is no wins, six draws and four defeats.

The inference seems to be that Albion are actually a better side when they have less of the ball and can play on the counter attack.

That is going from the numbers.

It may well be more boring than that. Just a case of the team who are chasing a game will often have more of the ball.

If there are claims that Albion are better on the counter attack, then it is maybe worth recalling they have only scored one goal this season when they were already leading.

At this stage, there is a concession to make. Personally, I am not that interested in possession stats in football.

There is always the risk that if you ask about such things in one of Graham Potter’s Zoom sessions it looks like you are.

And there is nothing wrong with that. Each to their own.

But that possession stat with reference to results has become a talking point so it was put to Potter and he was asked to explain why it might have worked out like that.

Albion’s head coach replied: “I don’t think there is a general hard and fast rule here. I think the scoreline does affect the game sometimes. And sometimes the games just pan out the way they do.

“There could be lots of reasons.

“As I’ve said before, winning possession isn’t the aim of a football match. Scoring more goals is the aim and that is what we have to do. Sometimes you can use possession and sometimes you have to do it differently.

“Those are the things you need in order to be successful and those are the things we are truing to work towards.”

Still, Albion’s second-half game management at Southampton came in for widespread praise.

They also dealt well with single-goal leads against Leeds, Tottenham and Liverpool.

There was a similar clarity of objective late on at Burnley.

It become pretty much a case of holding on for a point and, in the final ten minutes, they did so comfortably.

It is when they have had two stools between which to fall that they have sometimes been found wanting.

Games which have felt like stick or twist going into the final stages.

At home to Crystal Palace and Leicester for example. Fulham too, but for Lewis Dunk’s goal-line clearance at the end. Or Wolves but for a glaring miss.

Potter was asked about how his team have played when not in possession.

He replied: “There’s a lot that gets misunderstood, I think.

“We have always said you have to be organised defensively, you have to be strong defensively.

“I think our defensive record has been good this year, although we have been at times heavily punished for not too much.

“Certainly in dead-ball situations we’ve not been as good as we’d like.

“We haven’t been perfect but I think we’ve been generally quite good as a defensive team, certainly when you compare chances for and against. But while we are not perfect there are still things to do.”

So what about those possession numbers in victory and defeat (or even in disappointing draws)?

Like xG and many other stats, the data often does nothing more than reinforce what you have seen with your own eyes.

Albion’s largest possession shares have come not when they are beating teams but when they were chasing games.

Those now familiar periods when they are passing the ball in the final third, pinning teams back but struggling to find a way through as time slips away.

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Crystal Palace at home (75% of possession across the 90 minutes), Sheffield United (72%), West Brom away (68%), Crystal Palace away (66%), Burnley at home (61%) and Aston Villa at home (58%).

Apart from at Manchester City their lowest possession shares this season were the 35% at Leeds and 37% at Liverpool.

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And then there are tonight’s opponents, the one team Albion have beaten by more than one goal and with more than half the possession.

Those two numbers are very probably linked.

They certainly speak volumes about the Seagulls’ performance.

They had a ball in more ways than one that afternoon.

Potter said: “We had a fantastic start and we were two-up after about two minutes and all of a sudden the game became slightly more easy.

“We were pretty secure through the rest of the match and managed to get the third one to kill it off in the second half.

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“It’s a cliche but goals make things easier and we did well enough at the start to get a couple early and we played quite well.

“We had control of the game. But I’m expecting a completely different game just because of how much Newcastle have changed.

“It was one of our better days early on.”