Brighton & Hove Albion find themselves in the Europa League group stage for the first time in their history thanks to a historic season in the Premier League last time around, despite experiencing concerns as manager Graham Potter departed for Chelsea in September.
Those fears were quashed, though, as the Seagulls only went from strength to strength following the appointment of his replacement Roberto De Zerbi, who led them for the remaining 32 matches, in which they amassed 49 points including 14 victories to pip Aston Villa to the final Europa League spot on offer in England’s top flight.
Following that record-high top division finish, the South Coast outfit have picked up where they left off in the new league campaign, as they initially headed into the first international break with nine points from four matches courtesy of victories over Luton Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers alongside a solitary defeat to West Ham United.
On their return to action following the break, the Seagulls travelled to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United on Saturday, and they continued their eye-catching start to the season with a 3-1 victory, having gone three
goals up through Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross and Joao Pedro, moving fifth as a result and establishing their attacking record as the best in the Premier League at this early stage, having already scored 15 goals as part of their 12 points from five outings.
Now with momentum firmly on their side and excitement growing around the club ahead of a debut European campaign, which begins on home turf, Brighton will be desperate to make a fast start on Thursday and kick off the group stage with a three-point haul.
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Following that late triumph, which guaranteed them at least Europa League group-stage football, only Royal Antwerp stood between the Greek outfit and Europe’s top competition, but Almeyda’s side were unable to progress, suffering a 1-0 first-leg defeat in Belgium before being beaten 2-1 in the reverse fixture at the end of August, with Araujo’s late goal not enough to force another comeback.
Such a result saw the Double-Headed Eagle drop into the Europa League, and they now head into the tough opening trip to England on the back of a positive pair of league results, firstly triumphing 3-2 away at Volos thanks to an injury-time winner from Nordin Amrabat before most recently playing out a 1-1 draw with giants Olympiacos at the weekend, having initially gone ahead through Ezequiel Ponce, leaving them on five points from three outings at the start of their Super League defence.
Now taking on a heavily-fancied Brighton side, Almeyda’s men will look to cause somewhat of an upset on their travels on Thursday to quickly get their group campaign up and running ahead of meetings with Ajax and Marseille next month.
