Brighton are exceeding all expectations in the Premier League this season and currently sit seventh, just seven points off the top four with games in hand on the teams around them.

We caught up with Andy Naylor, Brighton correspondent for The Athletic, to get his thoughts ahead of Saturday’s game at the Amex Stadium.

Brighton are seventh in the Premier League as we enter the penultimate month of the season, with up to three games in hand on teams around them and an FA Cup semi-final to look forward to. What have you made of their season to date?

It has exceeded all expectations. Brighton had to cope with the departure of Graham Potter to Chelsea in September, after he guided them to ninth last season, which was their highest-ever finish.

There was a big jump in terms of finishing position, though the signs of steady improvement were already in place. When he left, they were actually fourth in the table after a 5-2 home win against Leicester and, though that was very early on, nobody expected them to be even close to staying there - but here we are!

They are right in the hunt for Europe for the first time under Roberto De Zerbi who, in pretty difficult circumstances, has managed to improve them.

The Seagulls have shown a tendency to better their own top-flight records year-on-year of late, but did you ever expect they would be pushing for a place not only in the Europa League, but potentially the Champions League this term?

It’s unprecedented territory for the club. This is only the 10th top-flight season in their entire history and, when they got promoted to the Premier League back in 2017, they’d been away from elite-level football for 34 years.

Most Brighton fans remember the 1983 FA Cup final against Manchester United, which they lost after a replay, but that was the season they were relegated and lost their top-flight status.

They have been through the struggles of homelessness, having played home games at Gillingham for two seasons in the late 1990s and then come back to their temporary home at the converted athletics stadium at Withdean.

Now they have a really good setup in terms of the infrastructure at the Amex, a high-class training facility in Lancing, and a team that is making life difficult for even the biggest sides in the Premier League.

Their form before the international break was impressive, but they have been even better since the World Cup break and only lost two of their 11 league games since. Why do you think that is?

I think it’s a case of De Zerbi having more time to implement his ideas. Potter introduced this style of play of playing out from the back, which was in contrast to the more traditional, resilient methods of Chris Hughton before him.

De Zerbi has taken it a stage further because the playing out from the back is done to the extreme; he gives a lot of responsibility to the central defenders, midfielders and the goalkeeper, dropping deep to entice the opposition on and then playing through or around the press.

Over that period of time, the players have become more and more tuned to his ideas and we’ve seen that progression after a sticky start when he first came in. They are really thriving now.

Which player should Brentford fans be keeping an eye on at the Amex Stadium?

It’s an interesting one because, with all due respect, if I was asked that about Brentford, the answer would be obvious. It’s not obvious with Brighton and that’s what makes them difficult opponents under De Zerbi because the threats are coming from everywhere.

The two wide men - Kaoru Mitoma and Solly March – are in hot form, centre-forward Evan Ferguson is a great prospect at 18, and Alexis MacAllister and Moises Caicedo are, arguably, the strongest midfield pairing in the division. Pascal Gross continues to perform at a very high level, too.

In terms of attacking threats and goals, if you look at the recent games, goals have come from all over the pitch, which makes it very difficult to pin down a dangerman.

How is De Zerbi likely to set up on Saturday afternoon?

He doesn’t change that often. Under Potter, they used to deviate between a back three and a back four, but they used to play a back three with wing-backs more often than they have under De Zerbi.

He has occasionally used it but, usually, it’s a 4-2-3-1 with MacAllister and Caicedo or Gross as the double pivot, Mitoma and March out wide.

Brentford won the last meeting 2-0 back in October, which was their first triumph against Brighton since September 2016. What’s your score prediction for this one?

My mind goes back to that game, which was very early in De Zerbi’s reign. Brighton dominated the ball, without really doing that much with it.

They are more accustomed to his ideas now, and though the teams are very closely-matched in terms of the push for Europe, I’m going to back Brighton to win it 1-0.