Brighton might be out of Europe, but Roberto De Zerbi’s team still has much to play for this season.
Despite Danny Welbeck’s goal securing a second-leg Europa League Round of 16 victory over Roma at the Amex Stadium, the 0-4 first-leg reversal in Rome saw Daniele De Rossi’s side progress to the quarter-finals on aggregate at Brighton’s expense.
Seagulls fans will be disappointed with the first-leg showing but can take heart from a much-improved home showing where Brighton had 65% of the possession and mustered 21 shots on goal compared to their opponent’s eight.
The early European exit allows De Zerbi’s talented but battle-weary squad to concentrate on the Premier League to improve its eighth-place spot in a bid to qualify for one of the continental competitions again next season. With a Europa League campaign now under its belt, Brighton would go into a future European season better prepared and more able to adapt to the additional workload that comes with it.
Right now, after Wolves eliminated The Seagulls from the FA Cup in Round 5, qualifying for Europe next season is Brighton’s priority, and improving its position to sixth in the EPL table by the end of the season would assure the club of this.
The sportsbooks listed on Safest Betting Sites have Brighton at 14/1 to make the Premier League top six at present, with Chelsea (4/1), Newcastle (6/1), West Ham (20/1) and Wolves (40/1) being its direct rivals for the minor two placings. Of the four, only West Ham is active in European competition, so qualifying for De Zerbi’s men could be difficult.
Much will depend on how Brighton fares in its upcoming fixtures, with a game against title-chasing Liverpool at Anfield on 31 March as its next challenge, with home encounters with The Reds’ title rivals Arsenal and a rescheduled fixture with Man City also up soon.
While Joao Pedro and James Milner could return after injury in time for the Liverpool clash, Solly March and Kaoru Mitoma likely won’t feature against the top three, meaning Roberto De Zerbi and Brighton will be at a distinct disadvantage for these meetings.
It’s not all doom and gloom for The Seagulls in their league run-in, though, as games against Brentford, Burnley and Bournemouth, all in the EPL bottom eight, remain. With no European fixtures to sidetrack the club, Brighton must look to take maximum points from these fixtures and as many points from the other remaining fixtures against direct top-six rivals Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Newcastle.
To do so, Brighton needs to rediscover last season’s defensive consistency and the goalscoring form of earlier in the current campaign. Mitoma and March’s injuries won’t help him, but with no other competitions as distractions, wily campaigner De Zerbi will find maintaining the Amex-based team’s focus on the EPL tasks ahead easier.
Even without earning points against Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City, Brighton can end in the top six in the Premier League but won’t want to leave it to the final league fixture of the season, at the Amex against Man Utd, to do so. Whatever happens, an entertaining last ten league games are in store for Seagulls fans.
