By Matt Pole
Solly March revealed he is already aiming to help Brighton & Hove Albion improve on their league position next season – despite the Seagulls enjoying their best-ever Premier League campaign.
Albion rounded off a season to savour with an excellent come-from-behind victory over West Ham United on Sunday.
Michail Antonio gave the Hammers the lead at half-time. But second half strikes from Joël Veltman, Pascal Groß and Danny Welbeck saw the Seagulls round off their campaign in style at the Amex.
The win, which also denied the Irons a spot in next season’s UEFA Europa League, saw ninthplaced Brighton record their highest-ever Premier League finish with a record points total of 51 from 38 matches.
March said: “If you look at some of the teams we’ve finished above, it’s a big achievement.
“If you had said ten, 12 games ago that we would be ninth with 51 points, everybody would have snapped your hand off for that.
“It’s all the effort and hard work over the previous two thirds of the season that has all come together. We deserved it. “We’ve got to come in and improve on that next year. If we stick with our main group of players that we’ve got and add a few players, I think we’ll be in good stead to do that.”
The good end to Albion’s league season was in stark contrast to their performances before the last international break – between March 21 and 29.
The Seagulls were, to put it bluntly, in diabolical form. Albion had managed just one win in seven, at beleaguered Watford on February 12, and had fallen to six defeats in as many games.
But Brighton found a new lease of life after the break, and put together an exceptional run of form.
The rejuvenated Seagulls won five of their last nine games, including famous victories over Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, and ended the Premier League campaign undefeated in five.
And March admitted the international break was a big turning point in Albion’s season.
He said: “We had a few meetings and discussed a lot of things within the team.
“One of them was to try and be more positive and play forward passes and get on the front foot and it definitely changed a lot.
“It was a good international break. I think we used it well.”
March featured 31 times, scoring twice, for the Seagulls in the Premier League during the 2021-22 campaign.
The versatile midfielder found himself in and out of the starting line-up before becoming a mainstay in February.
The 27-year-old started nine of Brighton’s last 12 games, playing a big part in their end of season unbeaten run.
March added: “Once you get a run of games it’s a lot easier to get into your rhythm and build your confidence.
“Before that it was a start here, start there and it was hard to get into the games. “But it’s been a good end to the season.
“Hopefully I can build on that and come back flying next year.”
Joel Veltman, who scored his second goal for Brighton during the 3-1 final day win against West Hm is also pleased with progress made by Albion this campaign.
“The three points secured Albion’s highest finish and biggest points tally as a Premier League side and the Dutchman was naturally delighted with the way the season panned out.
“If you look at the table we did great. We were struggling last year with 41 points but now we have ten more.
“We can be proud.”
We’ve got to come in and improve on that next year