Premier League 2017-18 preview No3: Brighton & Hove Albion

Guardian writers’ predicted position 20th (NB: this is not necessarily Ben Fisher’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)

Last season’s position 2nd (Championship)

Odds to win the league (via Oddschecker) 1,500-1

The size of the task facing Brighton & Hove Albion needs no introduction but a little context might help. Their first Premier League opponents, Manchester City, handed over more money for a pair of glistening full-backs this summer than the £93m (plus £5m of close-season upgrades) Brighton paid for their impressive Amex Stadium, nestled away in the South Downs and an undoubted catalyst for their success. Brighton though, on the brink of non-league football 20 years ago, will relish the big stage and the battle to stay there, finally among top-flight company after three near misses.

“We must not be in fear, we have got a very good side and we are going to be even better next season and we know that we have the inner strength to at least hold our own,” Tony Bloom, the club’s owner and chairman, and a supporter since the age of seven, said at the back end of last season. Bloom is one of the 100,000-plus fans drenched in blue and white who lined the seafront for the open-top bus celebrations that culminated at Hove Lawns in May.

With promotion in the bag, Brighton stumbled over the line as runners-up but only after dismantling the Championship with their punchy, attacking football. The scale of the club’s achievements saw Bloom and the manager, Chris Hughton, granted the freedom of the city.

The leader of the council, Warren Morgan, described them as “heroes of our football club”. Hughton, who took charge on New Year’s Eve in 2014, said: “This is very humbling for me as someone who has only been in the city for two and a half years.” The club’s success has quite literally put Brighton & Hove Albion back on the map – with the makers of Monopoly intent on updating the city’s 2003 edition of the board game to reflect the club’s Premier League status. It has been some ride for Hughton, forever grounded, whose immediate concern was fighting relegation to League One.

Since promotion, Brighton’s stance in the transfer market has been bold but not careless, although they have encountered frustrations. They pulled out of a club-record deal for Gent midfielder Renato Neto due to concerns over the Brazilian’s previous knee injuries, and lost out to Swansea City in the race to borrow Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who will spend the season on loan at their rival Crystal Palace, was another player of interest. The Liverpool defender Joe Gomez looks set to stay and fight for game time at Anfield, quashing any scope for a season-long deal there.

The three relatively left-field permanent senior signings – Mathew Ryan, Markus Suttner and Pascal Gross – are intriguing, low-risk signings. The club have also brought in Mathias Normann and Leyton Orient’s Steven Alzate, both seen as players for the future rather than this season.

Suttner and Gross, a left-back and No10 respectively, arrive from the relegated Bundesliga club Ingolstadt. Ryan, a £5.2m signing from Valencia, will be the first-choice goalkeeper following David Stockdale’s decision to reject a new contract and join Birmingham City. The signing of Izzy Brown on loan from Chelsea adds pace and an extra dimension to the Albion attack. “He gives us good scope in the front areas, he’s developing and hopefully he can develop here,” Hughton said of Brown, who shone at Rotherham United and then Huddersfield Town last season.

The message on transfer activity from Bloom was clear in the wake of promotion – “we’ll do things on a gradual basis” – but there is an argument that thinking outside the box may not prove sufficient. Of the summer signings, only Brown has Premier League experience and that amounts to two short substitute appearances. Glenn Murray, Steve Sidwell and Liam Rosenior, plus Hughton, do offer some know-how in the top flight.

There will be a reliance – possibly an over-reliance – on last season’s best performers. Lewis Dunk, Dale Stephens, Anthony Knockaert and Murray will all need to rise to the challenge. The striker Sam Baldock, who underwent calf surgery over the summer, will be another desperate to make his mark after failing to feature for West Ham United following their promotion in 2012.

Brighton blew away many teams last year and scored goals for fun, but they had an invaluable stubbornness too. They conceded 40 league goals in 46 matches – the joint-meanest record in the Championship. It is tough to determine the significance of losing Stockdale, who kept 20 clean sheets; Ryan, an Australia international, will have to hit the ground running.

Dunk’s chance in the Premier League has been a long time coming. The 25-year-old Brighton-born defender, at ease in possession and dominant in the air, made his league debut at MK Dons in 2010 and excelled for Albion under Sami Hyypia before continuing to impress under Hughton, alongside the Republic of Ireland international Shane Duffy.

Bruno, the 36-year-old club captain who missed only four league games last season, will again lead the side in his sixth season since joining from Valencia. Connor Goldson, signed from Shrewsbury Town in 2015, will likely be utilised as a backup after successful preventative heart surgery in February.

“I think our aim has to be to stay in the league,” Uwe Hünemeier, the German defender, said. “When you get promoted with a small team you have a lot of adrenaline and you try to show your best. Other teams have shown it is possible to stay there.”

Going the other way, Knockaert lit up countless Championship matches, wringing opposition defenders inside out before letting fly with his left boot. His availability for the opener is touch and go though, according to Hughton, because of an ankle ligament problem sustained against Fortuna Düsseldorf that left him on crutches. On the other flank Solly March, a player with local roots, has enjoyed a promising pre-season and can push on.

Hughton has, unsurprisingly, namechecked Bournemouth and Burnley as blueprints to follow. As with Sean Dyche’s side last year, if Brighton can continue their imperious home form – they lost only twice at the Amex in the league – they will markedly boost their survival hopes.

“We very much hope it will not be just for one season but our aim is to be there for many years to come,” Bloom has said. Their final pre-season friendly will see them entertain Atlético Madrid, seemingly the ideal match before the litmus test – and surely a special occasion – against City six days later. For years Brighton have been viewed as a forward-thinking model club, a team who are Premier League ready. Soon enough we will find out if they are.