BRIGHTON — Jack Hinshelwood smashed home from two yards to complete a 5-0 victory over bitter rivals Crystal Palace on Sunday, sealing a fourth straight Premier League win for Brighton & Hove Albion with an aggregate scoreline of 15-0. Diego Gomez had earlier put Fabian Hurzeler's side two up in just the seventh minute of the A23 derby with an audacious effort from the halfway line, as the free-scoring Seagulls underlined why no team have scored more and no team have conceded fewer this season. After seven matches Brighton sit third on 16 points, behind reigning champions Arsenal and table-topping Manchester City, who have a 100% record.
Match of the Day pundit Dion Dublin, who played in Manchester United's 1992-93 title-winning side, believes Hurzeler's squad have the harmony to sustain a challenge. "Because what we've seen of them this season is just togetherness, harmony... the manager's making good decisions," Dublin said. "[Pascal] Gross is leading the line in regards to what goes on on the pitch and what is the right kind of way they want to play. And everybody's chipping in with goals. They look a very, very frightening team at the moment."
Brighton have coped impressively despite losing top scorer Joao Pedro to Chelsea in the summer of 2025 and veteran forward Danny Welbeck to Stamford Bridge this year. Greece striker Charalampos Kostoulas, 19, has been entrusted to spearhead the attack after being used primarily as a substitute last season and has repaid Hurzeler with three league goals and two assists — only Lamine Yamal has more goal involvements among teenagers in Europe's top five leagues. Supported by Hinshelwood, Yasin Ayari, Malick Yalcouye, Maxim de Cuyper and a rejuvenated Gross pulling the strings from deeper, Brighton have had 11 different league scorers already while also benefitting from three own goals. They lead the division for goals, have had the most shots on target and sit second for xG, shots and big chances, with only Barcelona — with 39 goals from nine La Liga matches — having scored more in Europe's top five leagues. Defensively, Luka Vuskovic has looked a tremendous acquisition from Tottenham Hotspur following the departures of Jan Paul van Hecke and Carlos Baleba, helping the Seagulls, who remain unbeaten at home, to a league-high five clean sheets.
History suggests such a start is significant. There are only seven previous instances of a team scoring 23 or more goals after seven games of a Premier League season, and all bar one have gone on to finish in the top three, with Manchester City winning the title in 2011-12 and 2022-23. The outlier were Kevin Keegan's Newcastle United in 1994-95 — dubbed 'The Entertainers' — who faded to sixth, a comparison already being drawn with Hurzeler's swaggering side. Alan Wares, co-host of the Albion Roar podcast, urged sustainability over hype. "I think with the Premier League being seven games in and the other matches we've already played, I think the dream for us is sustainability. I wouldn't go for a target, just as high as possible," he said. "The club is really wanting to qualify for Champions League at the end of the season but yes, we've made a good start - are we title contenders? It's way too early to consider that. I would say that, at the moment, is fantasy stuff. But every football fan's got to have their dream and our point is, why not?" The Palace's 5-0 thrashing at Brighton has fuelled that debate, though juggling Conference League football makes lasting the pace with Arsenal improbable, even if Leicester City were only eighth on 12 points after seven games when they won the title in 2015-16.
The table could yet be shaped off the pitch. Last month an independent commission found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period, though City are appealing and the severity and timing of any punishment — which could take the form of a points deduction — remain unknown. Brighton have the chance to give City a fright when they travel to the Etihad on Halloween, one of four successive away games in all competitions, with the picture likely to look very different by November's international break. For now, Brighton are exactly where they deserve to be.