Who can stop Brighton’s ascension in English and European football? They continue to set standards, practices that leave almost everybody else trailing in their wake. Their second-place position in the Premier League would once have read like a glitch in a Football Manager session.

Come November 2026, they appear the only team capable of throwing down a challenge to Arsenal. Under low winter sun, Brentford, the club Brighton are often compared to, though one with a different outlook, were readily swatted aside. If Keith Andrews’ team, and their fans at the Amex, might level blame at a couple of refereeing decisions, it was a contest they were given little chance of rescuing anything from.

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