Brighton roundup: third in the table, goals shared and Sunderland next

Where Albion stand

According to the Premier League table, Brighton & Hove Albion sit third after five matches with 10 points — three wins, one draw and one defeat — built on 16 goals scored and five conceded.

Only Manchester City, perfect on 15 points from five games, and Arsenal, on 12 after a single defeat, are above them. The table also shows Brentford, Liverpool, Everton and Leeds United on nine points, giving Albion a one-point cushion over the chasing pack. No Premier League side in the table has scored more than their 16, and their +11 goal difference is the strongest of any Premier League club in it.

The results so far

Albion's five matches have included:

• a 3-0 home win over Arsenal
• a 5-0 victory away at Coventry City
• a 1-1 draw with Leeds United on the south coast

The form guide reads WWDLW, with the current streak listed as a win.

Who is scoring the goals

The club's scoring chart is a study in shared labour. J. Hinshelwood, Pascal Groß and Charalampos Kostoulas lead the way on two goals apiece, while Lewis Dunk, M. De Cuyper, Yasin Ayari, Chema Andrés and Malick Yalcouyé are among a wider group on one each.

Sixteen goals spread across that many names points to genuine depth, though nobody has yet made the No. 9 role their own.

Next up: Sunderland away

Sunderland, 14th in the table with four points, host Brighton at the Stadium of Light on 10 October. Bookmaker odds via the API Football feed, as of 20 September, price the Seagulls at 2.49, Sunderland at 2.80 and the draw at 3.38.

That makes Brighton the market favourites, with bookmaker-derived implied probabilities of 38% for an away win, 34% for a Sunderland victory and 28% for the draw — market guidance rather than certainty.

On FanTribe, the prediction game has 50 points on offer for a Brighton win, 68 for the draw and 56 for a Sunderland win.

Then Crystal Palace at the Amex

On 18 October, Crystal Palace — 15th in the table with four points — visit the Amex Stadium. No consensus odds were available for that fixture at the time of writing, so we won't be quoting prices for it here.

The FanTribe corner

FanTribe's club data currently lists no registered Brighton fans on the platform. That leaves the Seagulls' supporter leaderboard wide open — if you back Albion, you can be the first name on it and play the Sunderland fixture for points from the opening whistle.

With a trip to the north east and a home date with Palace to come, October should tell us whether Albion's early footing in the top three can hold.