Jaouen Hadjam announced himself to English football in the most emphatic fashion imaginable. The 23-year-old Algeria international, signed from Young Boys during the summer window, required just 309 seconds on his Premier League debut to find the back of the net during Brighton's commanding 2-0 victory over Sunderland on Saturday. His strike made him the tenth different Brighton player to register a goal in the league this season.
That statistic alone tells a story about the Seagulls that few other clubs in world football can match. No other Premier League side has managed to spread their goalscoring burden across so many different shoulders. When Brighton dismantled Coventry in recent weeks, five separate players found the net in a single afternoon. It is a pattern that speaks volumes about the squad's collective attacking intent and the system that Fabian Hurzeler has constructed.
The head coach articulated his philosophy with precision following that emphatic display.
It is not about having one good goalscorer. It is about having this flexibility of having many goalscorers, having a lot of players who have this desire to score. If you have this desire to score, you can score from different positions and in different situations.
Hurzeler expanded on the tactical mechanics underpinning this approach.
But it is always with the mindset of, 'How do I attack the box?' We sacrificed a lot of runs to be at one point in the right moment and in the right place, so it is all about sacrificing lots of things and to keep doing these runs into the box.
The numbers validate this philosophy with remarkable clarity. Brighton have already accumulated 27 big chances to score this season—a figure that dwarfs their nearest competitors. Six more opportunities have fallen to the Seagulls than to any other Premier League club, and astonishingly, they have created three times as many as Liverpool. This is not luck or statistical anomaly; it is the product of a carefully constructed system.
According to Sky Sports, the Sunderland match saw Maxim De Cuyper open the scoring in the 53rd minute before Hadjam's late addition in stoppage time sealed the points, with Pascal Groß and Georginio Rutter providing the assists. The victory extended Brighton's unbeaten run to three consecutive matches without conceding a goal, a defensive solidity that underpins their attacking ambitions.
What makes Brighton's current trajectory even more remarkable is the depth at Hurzeler's disposal. The club has fielded no fewer than 25 different players already this season, a consequence of their Conference League commitments stretching their squad across multiple competitions. Yet rather than creating instability, this rotation has become a strength. When Carlos Baleba departed for Manchester United, the transition barely registered. Young Chema Andres, the Spanish midfielder recruited from Stuttgart in the summer, slipped seamlessly into the side.
Andres made his competitive debut in the 3-0 demolition of Arsenal, replacing Malick Yalcouye in a tactical adjustment designed to add height to the team's structure. Hurzeler's willingness to tinker without sacrificing effectiveness speaks to the quality of his recruitment and the adaptability of his squad. Even Lewis Dunk, the club captain, has been rested for the last two matches—both of which Brighton won comfortably.
Yalcouye himself represents another strand of Brighton's strange alchemy. The 20-year-old Ivorian has already surpassed his entire goal tally from a loan spell at Swansea last season, a transformation that underscores the club's ability to develop young talent within a winning environment. Charalampos Kostoulas, the 19-year-old Greek forward, has benefited similarly from his apprenticeship alongside Danny Welbeck, recently scoring in three consecutive appearances.
The tactical framework supporting this success has evolved noticeably under Hurzeler's stewardship. While the possession-dominant approach that characterised Roberto De Zerbi's tenure remains evident, it has been married to a pressing intensity that represents a genuine evolution. Brighton now rank top for PPDA—passes per defensive action—allowing opposition sides fewer opportunities to build from the back than any other Premier League club. This aggressive pressing triggers high turnovers in dangerous areas, allowing the Seagulls to initiate attacks closer to the opposition goal than their rivals.
The recruitment strategy reflects this tactical identity. Brighton target players already accustomed to similar systems, such as Andres. They loan prospects to clubs capable of fostering the specific traits their model demands. In the case of Pascal Groß, they have even repatriated a player whose familiarity with the system made his return a natural fit.
Hurzeler credits Groß, alongside Dunk and experienced goalkeeper Jason Steele, with providing crucial social cohesion within a cosmopolitan dressing room that could easily have fractured under the pressure of constant rotation. Instead, the squad remains unified by a clear sense of purpose and identity.
The manager's journey in English football has not been without turbulence. A defeat to Crystal Palace at home in February, followed by two further losses, left his position under scrutiny among sections of the support. Yet since that nadir, Brighton have won 11 of their 18 Premier League matches. Only Arsenal and Manchester City have accumulated more victories across that span.
According to BBC Sport, the Sunderland victory left Brighton third in the table, two points adrift of joint leaders Manchester City and Arsenal. The performance itself was instructive: despite Sunderland dominating possession with 62 per cent and registering 12 shots, ESPN's expected-goals data showed Brighton's superiority, with the Seagulls recording 1.12 xG to Sunderland's 0.64. The match was also notable for Pascal Struijk's 57th-minute dismissal, which forced Brighton to complete the final stages with ten men—a constraint that only emphasised their control.
The current form is so dominant that Brighton have now scored 11 consecutive goals without reply across their recent matches. No other team in the division has managed more than four in such a sequence. Yet Hurzeler remains grounded, emphasising the importance of returning to fundamentals. Clean sheets matter, but so does contesting every duel, being alert to every throw-in, and pouncing on every loose ball.
What comes next
Brighton's next examination arrives in the form of a home fixture against Crystal Palace on October 18. The fixture carries particular resonance given the circumstances of their February defeat at Selhurst Park. The supporters will demand the same intensity and precision that has characterised recent performances, and all evidence suggests the Seagulls are equipped to deliver. They remain perhaps the most compelling attacking force in English football right now, and their next goalscorer could emerge from any corner of Hurzeler's expanding squad.
