How Brighton stand after five Premier League games

That has to be the over-riding conclusion from Albion’s start to the season as we can now all take breath.

Albion are on a high after five league games – eight in total – going into the international break.

Have they ever had a week like that we have just experienced?

First, they equalled their record away top-flight win at Coventry.

How things stand after five rounds (Image: PA Wire)

Then they won for the fifth time in the last six at Old Trafford, but the first such win having trailed.

And then came a 3-0 win at home to champions and unbeaten leaders Arsenal which might rank as the best result and performance in their first 125 years.

So what have we learned – or what has been reinforced – since an opening day which seems quite a long time ago now?

Goals from all areas

The worry in the summer was over where goals were coming from.

Two things happened to ease those concerns.

Albion signed Promise David just ahead of the trip to Tromso, then Jack Hinshelwood reminded us of his goal-getting knack with a double against Aston Villa.

Five weeks on, Albion lead the goalscoring charts and probably should have had a few more.

But that is with David yet to make an impact and Hinshelwood joining Kaoru Mitoma, Yankuba Minteh and, more briefly, Georginio Rutter among those players ruled out by injury.

So how have the wingerless, Welbeckless wonders done it?

An array of different goalscorers helps.

They have nine in the Prem alone, and that is with Rutter and Diego Gomez yet to register.

They also top the Prem for most big chances created with 22.

Only Sunderland have missed more of those “big chances”, with 15 compared to the Seagulls’ 13.

Despite missing such opportunities, Albion are outperforming the expected goals figure of 11.5 quite comfortably.

And that xG figure is the best in the Prem.

That might tend to suggest Albion are scoring some special goals from low-percentage chances.

We have certainly seen that in the last two league games.

So, while goals might not continue to fly in from outside the box, there is scope to score more from the clearer chances.

The hard work

I asked Fabian Hurzeler towards the end of last season about the fact his side looked fitter than opponents late in games and he agreed.

Of course, they then went and conceded a late goal at Newcastle.

But that was only because they were stretching themselves to the limit in pursuit of an equaliser.

Match Of The Day’s Danny Murphy expressed his surprise at how they maintained their intensity throughout the game as they suffocated Arsenal.

Even with the win secured, that work ethic helped them to a third clean sheet – joint top of the Prem in that ranking.

They lead the league for possession share on 64.8%.

We can only get clues from behind the scenes but everything points to a tough training regime and high demands in terms of fitness.

Albion’s stat for possession won in the final third is the best in the Prem at 7.2 times per match. Bournemouth are next on 5.6 times.

The Seagulls also led that category last season but that was with only 5.1 regains in the final third per game.

Maybe, as the games pile up and the schedule gets busier, the current number will come down.

But it is a marked increase so far for a team who were already the best in that aspect of the game.

We also see them playing forward more quickly, which feels counter-intuitive in the absence of wingers who can sprint in behind.

Their figure for accurate long balls per match is 26.6, third in the Prem and six more per game than last season.

Patience

When I arrived at the pre-season camp in Vienna, I almost passed Danny Welbeck heading in the opposite direction.

He was on his way to Chelsea having started the week working with Albion at the Austrian FA headquarters.

It felt like a huge setback for the Seagulls but the message I was given on and off the record was that Charalampos Kostoulas was looking very good and needed room to grow into.

That was not the only reason Welbeck left, maybe not even part of the reason, but it was certainly a potential plus from that development.

Kostoulas has responded with the sort of week which, had it come from Welbeck, would have sparked calls for an England recall.

Only Welbeck, as brilliant as his influence was for Albion in general and for Kostoulas as a young striker, probably would not have started all three games as the Greek teen did.

From early days at the club, Kostoulas has had an air about him, a bit of a swagger, which suggests a star in the making.

Charalampos Kostoulas has been in great form (Image: Liz Finlayson)

Albion were patient with him in his first pre-season and season.

While it is great to have goals spread around the team, it is also pure gold to have someone who you (and the opponents) always think can get a goal out of nothing.

Maybe a wonder goal when he is not even playing that well.

Kostoulas has that.

The fact he has scored his side’s first of the game three times has also been handy.

He will have a dip or two but the underlying trend is only going upwards.

Malick Yalcouye, Maxim De Cuyper and Olivier Boscagli are also examples of patience paying off for both team and player.

Luka Vuskovic? Not so much!

Feet on the ground

Not something we have learned as much as something to remember.

One message which rang loud and clear after the Arsenal game was about keeping feet on the ground.

Albion tend to start seasons well. Last year was a rare exception.

Albion tend to start seasons well (Image: Liz Finlayson)

The pace will increase.

The sequence which sends them to Jablonec, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester City again and Getafe in the space of a fortnight might just be the toughest the club have ever faced.

Then, when they return from Spain, they will take on an excellent Brentford side.

To that end, maybe that initially unwanted trip to Manchester United in the Carabao Cup was of huge value.

It gave a taste of what is to come in a way in which a tie at home to a League One or Two side would not have.

Players such as Jason Steele, Chema Andres, Pascal Struijk, Jaouen Hadjam and Costinha kept the bar high that night as they came into the side.

Those who did not start are all highly competitive professionals who would have seen that and known they had to keep doing just as well, if not better.

In terms of squad, Albion look more equipped for Europe than they were in 2023-24 and are probably going into a weaker competition.

But the schedule, while six games again, is more compact.

In 2023-24, the six group games were spread over 12 weeks. This time, they are over nine weeks.

It will be intense.

“Trust the process” and “daily behaviours”

Two of the favourite terms we hear from Fabian Hurzeler, which essentially tap into the club’s own ethos about being consistent and keeping calm.

At the start of the season, I said all members of “the big six” looked in decent shape at the time but at least one or two would under-perform.

And, as soon as they did, the spotlight on them would just accelerate their problems.

We have learned again, and not just from Albion, that consistent good work can pay off.

There has already been time for ups and downs.

The collective mojo from those who follow the team seemed to dip a little in that week between the Leeds draw and the trip to Coventry.

But the last five weeks have generally set a great foundation.

Now keep it going.