Are 'outstanding' Brighton now Arsenal's main title challengers?

On Sunday afternoon at the Amex Stadium, Brighton beat Brentford 2-0, and the result carried them into second place in the Premier League as the November international break began. It was their sixth win in seven league matches, and it came less than 24 hours after Manchester City lost 3-1 at Nottingham Forest, which is what let the Seagulls pass them in the table.

Brighton now sit five points behind leaders Arsenal. Their record reads seven wins from the opening 10 league games, and two of those wins came against Arsenal and Manchester City. The Arsenal result was a 3-0 victory at Brighton in September, one of the few blemishes on the defending champions' otherwise strong start of nine wins from 10.

Pascal Gross, the 35-year-old midfielder, scored against Brentford and created at least five chances for his team-mates. It was the 27th time since the start of the 2017-18 season that he has created five or more chances in a match. Only Kevin de Bruyne, with 48, and Bruno Fernandes, with 47, have done it more often. Gross rejoined Brighton from Borussia Dortmund in January, having left in 2024, and has now spent seven and a half years at the club across two spells. This season he has created eight big chances in the Premier League, more than any other player. Asked about the title, he was blunt: "No, we are not in a title race." He said the season is young, that the margins in the league are fine, and that the club is not getting carried away.

The numbers give outsiders reason to take Brighton more seriously than Gross will. They have scored 26 goals, more than any other side, and created 37 big chances, the second-highest total in the division. At the back, they have seven clean sheets, joint-highest in the league, and have conceded only five goals, second-fewest. Only Arsenal have been more impressive overall.

Leon Osman, the former Everton midfielder, told BBC Sport that Champions League qualification is probably the minimum to expect given how they are playing. He said the team has kicked on over the last 18 months and called their football outstanding. He stopped short of predicting a title, calling that unexpected, but said he expected them to win something this year, perhaps the FA Cup or the Conference League.

There was also good news on the injury front. Yankuba Minteh, the Gambia forward who joined from Newcastle United in 2024 and attracted an unsuccessful bid from Liverpool in the summer, made his first Premier League appearance of the season against Brentford. Kaoru Mitoma, out since May with a hamstring problem, is expected to follow him back.

The wider picture also helps Brighton. City have now lost three league games in a row, and Arsenal have been less convincing than in last season's title-winning campaign. City, under Enzo Maresca, visit Arsenal on 29 November. Their season is also clouded by an independent commission's finding earlier this year that the club breached 114 Premier League financial rules, three and a half years after the charges were first brought. City deny any wrongdoing and have appealed. If the appeal fails, they could face a significant points deduction or, in the most extreme case, expulsion, which would leave Brighton as Arsenal's most realistic challengers on current standings. Liverpool and Chelsea, fourth and fifth, are the only teams to have beaten Brighton in the league, but both appear to be in transitional seasons and are well off the necessary pace.

Osman argued that this is the moment for Brighton to benefit from a squad they have rebuilt after selling top players for large profits. He said they now seem to be reaching a point of keeping their best players and using that ability for their own success. The first big test of the title talk comes when City visit Arsenal on 29 November, with the appeal outcome still hanging over the champions-elect's closest rivals.