Has Fabian Hürzeler Improved Brighton and Hove Albion this Season? - Data Comparison

At the end of the 23/24 Premier League season, Roberto De Zerbi bid farewell to the club and Brighton went on the hunt for a new head coach. The manager they landed on was 31-year-old Fabian Hürzeler from German club St Pauli. The appointment drew some looks from the media, as he became the second youngest manager to take charge of a game in the league, only behind Ryan Mason’s stint in charge after the sacking of Jose Mourinho at Tottenham.

Brighton’s season got off to a decent start under the German head coach, being beaten only once in his first eight, including a win against Manchester United and a point against now second-placed Arsenal. However, this did also include a lacklustre draw against Ipswich and a 4-2 defeat to Chelsea, with Cole Palmer scoring four times on one half.

Brighton’s form was inconsistent from here on in, but the rock bottom moment of the season came against Nottingham Forest, who managed to fire 7 goals past them at the City Ground. They would get their revenge on Chelsea soon after though, beating them convincingly in both the FA Cup and Premier League, with Kaoru Mitoma scoring a candidate for goal of the season, bringing down a Bart Verbruggen goal kick perfectly before slotting home.

Their season will conclude against a Liverpool team already home and dry on the title front and a Tottenham Hotspur side who would have just played the Europa League final at that point, so might be already on the beach themselves too, so there is all the chance in the world they might get European football after all (depending on whether eighth place will mean Europe, which will be decided when Crystal Palace and Manchester City meet in the FA Cup Final on Saturday 17th May).

What do the stats say?

(Stats from Fotmob)

One clear improvement is the number of goals scored per game, going from 1.44 last season to 1.63 this season, with the number expected to go up come the end of the season. However, the difference between goals conceded is minimal, only decreasing by 0.03, which has consequentially made European qualification more of a “get results and hope for the best” situation.

The more goals scored does however mean that the Seagulls have won more points this season than last, amassing 7 more points than last season, with two games left to spare to increase this even further.

So, who has benefited from the arrival of Hürzeler?

(Stats from Fotmob)

One of the stand-out beneficiaries of Hürzeler’s appointment has been experienced striker Danny Welbeck, who has more than doubled his goals and quadrupled his assists this season.

At the time of writing, Welbeck has played the same number of games as he did the entirety of the previous season, and the improvement has been noticeable. Whether it’s due to new arrivals, notably Yankuba Minteh and Matt O’Riley, or new tactics from the Head Coach, the striker’s output has been his most productive in the Premier League, beating the 11/12 and 13/14 seasons, where he scored 9 times.

The recent success of fellow forward João Pedro risked shunning Welbeck out of the team entirely, but the 34-year-old has been more than up to the task whether chosen ahead of the Brazilian, coming off the bench, or deputising in his absence, and has managed to surpass his compatriot for now, although that might change as he will be available soon after serving a three match suspension for a red card against Brentford.

There have been plenty of Brighton players who have massively impressed this season, including Jan Paul van Hecke, who was named both Men’s Player and Player’s Player of the Season at the Brighton and Hove Albion awards ceremony. Hopefully for Fabian Hürzeler, these numbers will continue to rise, and we may see the Seagulls in the heights of the European competitions sooner rather than later.