Andy Naylor, The Athletic: How Brighton have evolved under Fabian Hürzeler | OneFootball

Appointed as Brighton and Hove Albion head coach in June 2024 following Roberto de Zerbi's exit, Fabian Hürzeler has the Seagulls in the hunt for European qualification with six games of the Premier League season remaining.

Ahead of Brighton's visit to Brentford on Saturday, The Athletic’s Andy Naylor discusses the 32-year-old’s impact at Amex Stadium and how he has built on the impressive work done by his predecessor.

Brighton are 10th in the Premier League with six games left to play this season. What have you made of how their campaign has panned out since the 0-0 draw in the reverse fixture on 27 December?

They have been very inconsistent, which has been the pattern of the season; good spells followed by bad spells, in terms of results.

So they are quite difficult to predict from game to game, but there are logical reasons for that.

They have a new head coach, Fabian Hürzeler, who took over in the summer after the departure of Roberto De Zerbi.

There has a lot of squad churn and an awful lot of injuries, too. They have suffered more in that respect than any club in the league.

That has all been reflected in inconsistent results and performances.

The Seagulls are right in the thick of it with the group just behind the top three. Fifth would represent their best-ever finish. What do you think is a realistic aim from here?

Their ambition at the start of the season was to try to qualify for Europe again, having done so for the first time under De Zerbi after finishing sixth in 2022/23 and reaching the Europa League, which they did pretty well in, reaching the last 16.

The bigger picture for the club is trying to establish themselves in the top 10, which then entails being on the premises of qualifying for Europe and also domestic silverware.

They are still hunting their first major silverware in that respect. The FA Cup quarter-final defeat on penalties at home to Nottingham Forest was a blow because of the wide-open nature of the competition this season.

It is still wide open, that European race, not least because it is still very difficult to know how many clubs are actually going to qualify! They are still in the mix.

Even if they don’t break a record in that respect, top half looks very achievable. Given this is only the club’s eighth Premier League season, how would a third top-half finish in four seasons go down?

To an extent, De Zerbi raised the bar to an unrealistic level.

To finish sixth two seasons ago was pretty remarkable and, if you look at the clubs you are up against in trying to get into that next tier of clubs behind the very top clubs, it is not easy when you are competing against the likes of Newcastle and Aston Villa, for example.

The overall picture is that they are still progressing as a club. They tailed off last season, having gone out of Europe, and ended up finishing 11th.

It was sixth before that and in Graham Potter's last full season it was ninth.

Missing out on Europe this season would be a disappointment, but certainly not the end of the world if they end up 10th or 11th in the table.

Which player should Brentford fans be keeping an eye out for on Saturday?

Brighton suffered a big blow against Forest, not only with the result but also losing Georginio Rutter, who has been outstanding in the no.10 role since a club record move from Leeds, so that has affected their firepower.

Kaoru Mitoma missed the draw against Leicester last weekend, which was the first league game he has missed this season, after he picked up a heel injury in the defeat prior to that at Crystal Palace.

That injury is short term, but whether that means he is actually back for Brentford or not is unclear at the time of speaking. But the Japanese international remains a key figure on the left wing.

Then there is also João Pedro, who added to his very impressive record from the spot with two penalties against Leicester.

That took him into double figures again for the season in the league and Brighton are quite reliant on him and Danny Welbeck for goals now.

What should Thomas Frank’s side expect from Brighton in terms of shape and style?

It is quite a bit different to under De Zerbi in that, under him, they had that very methodical, forensic build up from the back.

They still try to play, but they are also prepared to go a bit more direct at times. The mantra really with Hürzeler is intensity in and out of possession.

That is what he wants to get to. It was quite interesting that, after that Forest defeat, they bounced back with six wins in a row - and, after the fifth of those wins, he said the players are still not fit enough.

They are getting there, but are not fit enough for what he wants. He wants them to, basically, be the fittest, most intense side in the league. It is a work in progress.

In the three Premier League meetings at the Gtech so far, there’s been one win for each team and a draw, so what will happen is anyone’s guess! What’s your score prediction?

I am going to sit on the fence. They are two pretty well-matched teams and clubs. If you look at the table there is not that much between them. I am going for a 1-1 draw.