This was the Chinese year of the rabbit and Brighton & Hove Albion certainly hopped further up the rankings of English football in 2023.
It was, by a distance, the best 12 months in the club’s 122-year history, a 4-1 thumping of Everton at Goodison Park in the opening fixture in January providing a taste of things to come.
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Roberto De Zerbi delivered a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League last season — the club’s highest-ever position — to secure European qualification for the first time with a stylish brand of possession-based football. Fans have never seen anything like it.
Momentum has been maintained this season under the Italian head coach despite the summer sales of midfielders Moises Caicedo to Chelsea for a British-record package of £115million and Argentinian 2022 World Cup winner Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool.
De Zerbi’s squad have ended the year with a last-16 tie to look forward to in the Europa League over two legs in March, plus the prospect of a third successive top-10 finish in the league (they finished ninth under Graham Potter in 2021-22), once a crippling injury list eventually eases.
There is also the possibility of another FA Cup run in 2024 after losing on penalties to Manchester United in the semi-finals in April. Here are some of the highlights of an unforgettable year.
The high point
Clinching top spot in the Europa League group with a 1-0 win against Marseille at the Amex Stadium.
Finishing second, yet alone first, looked a tall order when they lost the opening fixture 3-2 at home to AEK Athens and trailed 2-0 at half-time in Marseille in the next game.
The comeback to draw 2-2 at the Stade Velodrome launched a remarkable turnaround. It’s still hard to believe the 20th-minute goal scored that night by Jordan Veretout to double Marseille’s lead was the last goal Brighton conceded in the group.
Successive 2-0 wins over Ajax — a notable achievement in itself — and a 1-0 victory in Athens set up the table-topping coup de grace against Marseille.
While Marseille have gone into February’s two-legged knockout round to face De Zerbi’s former club Shakhtar Donetsk, Brighton have avoided further fixture congestion.
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Instead, they have games to relish away on March 7 and at home on March 14 against opponents who could be from the Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Azerbaijan, Turkey or the Czech Republic. Make a note of the draw date: February 23.
The low point
The anterior cruciate knee ligament and meniscus damage suffered by Solly March in innocuous circumstances late on at Manchester City in October was a crushing blow for the long-serving utility player.
All being well, the 29-year-old will be back next season. He has been in the best form of his career under De Zerbi.
Most surprising moment
Losing 5-1 to Everton at the Amex in May. It was not the result in itself — surprises can happen against anyone in the Premier League — so much as the scale of it. Especially after thrashing Wolves 6-0 and beating Manchester United 1-0 at home in the previous two games.
Everton were in the relegation zone, but pretty much everything that could go wrong did that night, from the moment Abdoulaye Doucoure tapped the visitors into the lead after 34 seconds.
It was a freak result, followed by Brighton regrouping to put Arsenal to the sword 3-0 at the Emirates six days later.
Best player
Lewis Dunk. The long-serving skipper and central defender remains a huge influence. I appreciate the ‘2 Good 2 Bad’ slot at the end of Match Of The Day 2 is supposed to be a bit of fun, but the montage on Dunk after the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal earlier this month was misleading and cruel.
It showed him being made to look a bit silly twice by the ball skills of Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, along with a painful block in the nether regions, before finally giving him credit for a header off the line.
Dunk was outstanding again that day at the Emirates — as plenty of Arsenal fans would testify — but Brighton supporters are used to that. Now that he has belatedly been restored to the England squad by Gareth Southgate, it would be a pity if his endless consistency is not rewarded by a place on the plane for the Euro finals in Germany in the summer.
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Best goal
There have been plenty of crackers to choose from, including Kaoru Mitoma’s solo stunner at Wolves in August. Nothing compares, though, with Julio Enciso’s equaliser in the 1-1 draw against Manchester City at the Amex in May.
It was peak ‘De Zerbi-ball’, with a finish to match the creation. A move of 10 passes, involving most of the team, began with Jason Steele and went back to the goalkeeper from inside City’s half and back out again.
Enciso’s arrowed drive into the top corner from 25 yards completed the work of art. A worthy candidate on a shortlist of three for FIFA’s Puskas award for goal of the year — the winner is announced in January.
The stat that sums up 2023
Teenagers have made over 100 Premier League appearances for Brighton this year, the most by a team in a calendar year in the history of the competition. That epitomises the fearlessness and freshness of the approach under De Zerbi.
Most memorable quote
De Zerbi saying after the 1-1 home draw against Sheffield United in November: “I am honest and clear, I don’t like 80 per cent of English referees.” It leaves you wondering who the one in five are that he does like!
Piece I most enjoyed writing
Two days spent in Dublin and Bettystown — the coastal village that is home to Evan Ferguson — to write the story of the Republic of Ireland teenager’s rise, including speaking to his school teachers, coaches and a former team-mate I bumped into by accident over lunch at a local cafe.
A wish for 2024 is…
That De Zerbi is still in charge when I write my next review of the year. He’s such fun. Although the club’s pre-planning is second to none — to the extent that they will have been monitoring potential successors more or less since he was appointed — my crystal ball predicts he will be an extremely hard act to follow.
(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images