Albion achieved a notable landmark last night.

One which felt to many out of reach when a medium-term target was set not so long ago.

 

Which is great.

Even better, there was very little made of it as that landmark was secured.

Alexis Mac Allister’s penalty to beat Manchester United guaranteed a top-ten finish.

The Seagulls are now assured of finishing in the top half for a second successive season.

What was the target set back in the summer of 2019?

To become an established top-ten team.

That doesn’t mean coming in the top half every single season.

Or to do it just once. Or twice.

It means for top ten to be the norm over several years, even if they dip below that in some seasons.

Well, two in a row is a good start having never done it before in 121 years

It’s not that long ago that Tony Bloom’s top-ten mission felt like a very big ask.

Dare one say out of reach, even?

Less than four years on from that declaration of intent, we are in a position where tenth place this season would feel like a disappointment.

But there’s the point - top ten doesn’t have to mean tenth place.

 

True, that is usually how such terminology is used in football.

If you hear a team being tipped for “top six” in pre-season, it generally means: “I think they will finish sixth.”

No one ever says Manchester City are going to finish ”top six” even though they always do.

So where to now for Albion, who moved into sixth place with games in hand on Thursday?

That was a night which will have sent belief higher than ever that “our goal”, as Roberto De Zerbi puts it, can be achieved.

“Our goal” appears to have shifted from Champions League to Europa League.

But it is all Europe. All new frontiers.

It would place huge demands on Albion both on and off the field but it feels like they are ready.

On it, they have underlined as much by finding different ways to win games using different personnel.

All underpinned by what appears a common and rock-solid belief in the way they play and an ability to carry it out under pressure.

They have shown their credentials by peaking on Saturday and then peaking again on Thursday.

Off it, events such as Thursday night versus Manchester United live on Sky Sports and national radio as well as international outlets are as big as they come.

Including from the aspect we see in this job – the media side of it all.

It really feels like Albion relish such tests and rise to such challenges on and off the pitch.

To NOT keep stretching themselves would be to feel unfulfilled.

There are really tough fixtures ahead and matches which could be decided by fine details.

But Thursday nights are Europa nights, as the BT Sport promo goes, and the way Albion dug so deep again, with players missing, underlines why they can get there.

For now, enjoy the afterglow of a special Thursday at home – and another landmark moment.

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