Sky Sports commentator Alan Smith has said Brighton can qualify for the Champions League this season via a top four finish – before hailing the Albion as every football fan’s second favourite team.
The former Arsenal and Leicester City striker was speaking to Lord Ping in a far-reaching interview about the Premier League campaign ahead.
In it, he was asked about whether the Albion could build on their best ever finish of sixth last time out. And the answer was a yes.
“I think that Brighton have a very good chance of qualifying for the Champions League this season if they can maintain their current performance levels,” Smith told Lord Ping.
“We all wondered how they would cope with Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister leaving, but their absences haven’t had any impact on performances so far.”
“They have the confidence and one of the best managers around, so why can’t they qualify for the Champions League?”
Central to how successful Brighton are this season will be squad rotation. Roberto De Zerbi has been very vocal that he will make a greater number of changes than in 2022-23 to cope with the added demands of European football.
“It will be interesting to see how they get on in Europe,” Smith added. “They struggled against AEK, but everyone’s allowed a bit of an off night.”
De Zerbi has been true to his word regarding rotation so far. After beating Newcastle United 3-1 at the Amex, there were five changes for the trip to Manchester United.
Those paid off handsomely as despite the weakened look of his Albion side, De Zerbi oversaw victory at Old Trafford by the same 3-1 scoreline.
Smith paid tribute to the work being done by De Zerbi when asked about how Chelsea would fare against Brighton in the Carabao Cup.
“Under Roberto De Zerbi, Brighton have shown this season that they can rotate players and still get results,” Smith said.
“They are everything that Chelsea aren’t. Everyone associated with the club from the pitch to the upper management know exactly what they’re doing.”
“On the pitch, they play a wonderful brand of football that is really difficult to stop.”
Finally came Smith’s comments about how the Albion have become everyone’s second team.
“There could very well be an opportunity for Brighton to get into that top four. They are everyone’s second team, aren’t they?”
“I think everyone enjoys seeing the big boys getting taught a lesson by a smaller team and Brighton are doing that at the moment.”
Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Manchester United fans may not agree.
