With Brighton and Hove Albion just over a month away from their opening Premier League game at home to Manchester City, I look at four players who will be key to Albion staying up. All four players mentioned made at least 37 appearances out of a possible 46 last season.
Bruno Saltor
The Spaniard has been with the Seagulls since 2012, when he joined on a free transfer from Valencia. In his five-year spell, he has racked up 186 appearances, scoring six goals and is Brighton’s captain.
Even though he is now 36, Bruno made 41 appearances last season. The Spaniard is key for the Albion as his partnership down the right-hand side with winger Anthony Knockaert is incredible, as they both have a great understanding of when to make runs for the other and when one of them is struggling to defend then the other come and helps them out by doubling up on the player.
Although Bruno does not possess a great deal of pace, most wingers struggle to get the better of him because of his class, coolness, calmness and his tight marking.
Lewis Dunk
The 25-year old centre-back has been with Brighton since 2009 with the youth team, but broke into the first team since 2010. In that time, he has stacked up 168 appearances, scoring eleven goals. The Englishman made a staggering 41 appearances last season.
Dunk is crucial to back four as the defence never looks as solid without him, as he is a leader in the centre of defence and is always throwing into tackles and into aerial duels, with some looking near impossible to win but he somehow wins them. Being this competitive does mean he gets his fair share of yellow cards.
The partnership Dunk has built up with fellow centre-half Shane Duffy is key as the pair have a great understanding and helped to make Brighton’s defence one of the best in the Championship last season, with the Albion losing just eight games and conceding just 41 goals.
Anthony Knockaert
The Frenchmen has been a revelation since he joined Brighton in January last year from Standard Liege. In his time at the Seagulls so far, Knockaert has made 59 appearances, scoring 20 goals. The 25-year-old winger made 43 appearances for the Albion last season and was instrumental in Brighton’s promotion to the top flight. This was rewarded with Knockaert winning the PFA’s player of the season for the Championship.
Knockaert will be vital to how well The Seagulls do next season as his trickery, pace and unpredictability makes its extremely tough for any defender to contain the little magician and stop him having an impact on the game. If Knockaert is on form then Brighton are a team to be feared as he can run the show and make the game look easy
Glenn Murray
The 33-year-old striker picked up where he left off in his first spell at the club. Murray joined The Albion last summer on loan from Bournemouth and before Christmas had netted 14 goals in 22 games including a hat-trick against Norwich at The AMEX. This lead to Brighton resigning Murray permanently in January. Last season he ended up making 38 appearances and scoring 23 goals making him The Albion’s top scorer.
Murray will be key to Brighton’s survival with his wealth of experience and his clinical finishing in front of goal will I think will help The Seagulls to stay up. His partnership with Sam Baldock was key last season as the combination of Murray as a target man and Baldock’s pace and movement worked superbly for The Albion with the pair scoring 34 goals between them last season.
