Jaouen Hadjam needed only 309 seconds of his Premier League debut to score Brighton's second goal in their 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday. In doing so, he became the tenth Brighton player to score in the Premier League already this season.
Hadjam is a 23-year-old Algeria international signed from Young Boys in the summer. His impact is just the latest example of Brighton's talent identification. But the presence of yet another Seagulls player on the scoresheet says even more about this squad.
No other club has had so many different scorers. Against Coventry recently, there were five of them in just one game. Speaking to head coach Fabian Hurzeler after that emphatic victory, he explained that it was a consequence of their approach as a team. "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," Hurzeler said. "But it is always with the mindset of, 'How do I attack the box?'"
That mindset has helped Brighton become the Premier League's top scorers so far. They have had 27 big chances to score already this season, six more than any other side and three times the number of Liverpool. Brighton also appear to have greater depth. Carlos Baleba was sold to Manchester United, but there is already excitement about young Chema Andres, who came into the side for the 3-0 win over Arsenal in place of Malick Yalcouye. No fewer than 25 players have already featured for the club this season due to their Conference League commitments. It owes plenty to their recruitment but also to their game model.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing