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Brighton & Hove Albion travel to Brentford on Saturday and it’s a chance to remind us all that they’ve achieved something special too.
The Seagulls are an established Premier League team and have been since they were promoted in 2017. They’ve finished in the top half three times in eight seasons, the culmination of a 25-year journey from the bottom tier of the Football League in the wake of near oblivion.
Brighton and Brentford have been beacons for what’s possible
Their rise, like that of AFC Bournemouth in a similar timeframe, shouldn’t be overlooked. The Premier League has gradually come to resemble a closed shop financially and only clubs that are run either very well or very differently can climb the levels to this extent.
Yet the very nature of these clubs and their progress is that they’re not interested in the past. Brentford and Brighton are teams of today, focused on capitalising on the legacy failings of necrotic Premier League clingers-on.
Both Brentford and Brighton have thrived on the back of unorthodox, thoroughly modern methodologies.
Brentford owner Matthew Benham is a gambling mogul whose specialism in statistical modelling has powered the Bees up the divisions and proved once and for all that their wings are plenty big enough for their bodies according to the laws of aerodynamics.
Tony Bloom has also branched out from gambling into sports statistics. Jamestown Analytics sells data to clubs and Brighton – and Heart of Midlothian – have easier access than most.
Despite the similarities, 2025-26 is starting to expose some fundamental differences. Brentford are on an upward swing once more but Brighton, the better part of a decade into life at the top, are showing a few signs of temporary stagnation.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, the nine-point gap and differing outlooks originate not in the analytics of the boardroom but the decisions that have been made in the dugout.
Keith Andrews is taking Brentford forward against the odds
Benham and Brentford are reaping the rewards of a brave decision in the summer. Thomas Frank left west London for Tottenham Hotspur and was succeeded by Keith Andrews, a respected coach who’s taken the long road to the top job.
If committing to Andrews was a bold choice on Brentford’s part, the unswerving manner in which Andrews has brushed off the sales of several key players to climb to seventh place has been just as impressive.
Having a striker capable of scoring as easily as Igor Thiago isn’t doing Brentford any harm but Andrews regularly proves that there’s more to it. The new era, Brentford will hope, starts here.
Brighton are facing a nine-point deficit versus Brentford and their trajectory is more doubtful. Manager Fabian Hurzeler is more conservative than Andrews, not in a tactical sense but in terms of how confidently he addresses some games.
The 32-year-old has a very capable squad at his disposal but his players aren’t being thrown aggressively at the problem of Brighton’s deteriorating league form. Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Liverpool infuriated fans because of a lack of conviction, not because they lost at Anfield.
Hurzeler and his analysts will spend this week looking very closely at Brentford, who won their last two Premier League away games against Aston Villa and Newcastle United before drawing at home against Arsenal.
The Brighton boss will see a team playing in slightly different ways for slightly different circumstances but always meaning it. That might not sound like the kind of difference that’s worth nine points but top-flight football is a game of tiny margins.
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