Who can stop Brighton’s ascension in English and European football? They continue to set standards, practices that leave almost everybody else trailing in their wake. Their second-place position in the Premier League would once have read like a glitch in a Football Manager session.
Come November 2026, they appear the only team capable of throwing down a challenge to Arsenal. Under low winter sun, Brentford, the club Brighton are often compared to, though one with a different outlook, were readily swatted aside. If Keith Andrews’ team, and their fans at the Amex, might level blame at a couple of refereeing decisions, it was a contest they were given little chance of rescuing anything from.
A successful return to the Amex following five Brighton away trips, more than 5,000 miles on the road including victory at Manchester City and Getafe over the last two outings. Normal service was duly resumed, any negatives coming in a failure to add to their first-half goals. Brentford returned to a stadium where they have never won in the Premier League.
They departed with the usual lack of spoils, having announced their strategic intentions with an up-and-under straight from the kick-off. Bart Verburggen catching it on the full previewed an easy afternoon for the Brighton keeper. Via a similarly direct strategy, Maxim de Cuyper made a mess of Brighton’s first big chance, his header over laid on by Pascal Gross’s cushioned volley. There are, though, many further dimensions to Fabian Hurzeler’s team. This week, Paul Scholes, an unlikely progressive, having watched Brighton train at Salford, declared himself an admirer of a “level of coaching” he suggested is unsurpassed in English football.
The results are eye-catching. Diego Gómez’s goal was not as spectacular as the halfway-line goal of the season against Crystal Palace but a beauty nonetheless. Caressing the ball first with his left and then with his right, he laid up a thrash past Caoimhin Kelleher. Its trajectory was unerring, unstoppable. The Paraguayan does not do tap-ins.
The path to a commanding victory came via another means. Igor Thiago did not last many minutes beyond his failed attempt to lob Verburggen. Scuffling in midfield with Chema Andrés, his shove was first ruled a yellow by the referee, Michael Oliver. In stepped the video assistant referee, Stuart Attwell, to advise a more serious punishment. Thiago’s push had landed on the more diminutive Andrés’ face, inadvertent and soft-looking, though always unlikely to favour Brentford. “Violent conduct” and “with force” came the verdict from Stockley Park. The Brazilian, recently returned to scoring after a slow start to the season, will now miss the rest of Brentford’s November assignments.
Andrews, straying beyond the confines of his technical area in a manner likely to add him to Mikel Arteta’s “massive storage of images” of such breaches, asked his team to dig deep. And once Brentford reverted to a five-man defensive shell, Brighton’s dominance of possession became near-total.
Luka Vuskovic, previously serving as an deep-lying playmaker threading unhurried passes to each flank, won the penalty from which Brighton’s second came. Keane Lewis-Potter’s panicked response to a physical 18-yard box mismatch was to snatch the Croatian’s shirt. Gross’s penalty was struck as truly as Gómez’s goal, just as unstoppable for Kelleher.
Andrews’ half-time adjustments, bringing on Yehor Yarmoliuk and Nathan Collins, seemed an attempt to protect Brentford’s goal-difference tally. So did their approach, Brighton free to continue to pile on pressure, their possession share reaching beyond 75%. A set-piece became Brentford’s sole route back into the game ,though Mathias Jensen’s looping diagonal straight into Verbruggen’s hands would not have passed muster in rugby’s Nations Championship.
Ironic cheers from the west London contingent came when Brentford won a corner, and then another – rare excitement at Brighton’s defenders being asked to do something other than build an attack. The visitors’ fighting spirit at least remained, though it threatened to spill over. When Kevin Schade shoved Vuskovic to the ground by the touchline, another red card became a possibility, only for Oliver and Attwell to rule a yellow was sufficient.
Brighton’s push for honours and further horizons will require more than spectacular goals, and their response to Brentford’s brief lift of pressure was to retake control and continue to work their personnel advantage.
Yasin Ayari’s expertise in finding scoring positions created two chances before he was replaced by Jack Hinselwood, who found similar space to drill wide. Hurzeler, like Andrews straying beyond the confines of his technical area, would not countenance any let-up. As Brighton continue to meet the demands of their coach, so many others are being left in their wing mirrors.
