Graham Potter thinks Pascal Gross is arguably in the best shape of his career after the German helped Brighton continue their strong start to the Premier League season.
Creative midfielder Gross struck the winner in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Leeds – his third goal of the campaign – to extend Albion’s unbeaten streak to a club-record nine games.
The Seagulls are just two points behind leaders Arsenal after three wins and a draw in their first four matches.
Gross has already surpassed his goalscoring tally from last season, also scoring twice in his side’s opening weekend victory at Manchester United.
Head coach Potter, who jokingly referred to ongoing questions over signing a ’20-goal striker’, hopes the 31-year-old can continue to make key contributions.
“That’s part of the challenge,” said Potter, who on Friday allowed last season’s top scorer Neal Maupay to join Everton. “Rather than waiting for an individual, can others appear for purposes?
“Pascal is probably performing well in his career; certainly his level since I worked with him.
“If other people can score and take the weight off that 20-goal striker that we’re going to have, that would help us.
“As I pointed out the other day, there are only two in the Premier League (last season: Son Heung-min and Mohamed Salah), so it’s not that simple.”
Gross calmly scored the decisive goal in the 66th minute after being trapped by Leandro Trossard.
Brighton, who have squandered a host of previous chances, were booed by sections of their support following a goalless draw with Leeds last November.
Potter fired back at fans on the occasion and just avoided a repeat storyline.
“We were eighth in the Premier League at that time,” he said. “But I also understand the frustration because we played well and didn’t win.
“Football is about emotions. People have the right to have their opinion and I also have the right to communicate mine, and that’s fine.
“There are no problems. We are continuing to work. Fortunately, we have taken some measures. The start has been really good. The boys are playing at a very good level.
“They’ve been doing it consistently for a while, so we have to make sure we keep it that way.”
Leeds were comfortably second in the first half on the south coast but improved after the break, helped by the introduction of substitutes Mateusz Klich and Luis Sinisterra.
Manager Jesse Marsch is considering changes for Tuesday night’s encounter with Everton at Elland Road.
“I was really excited to have them on the pitch, I thought they could help and they did,” he said.
“Everton will be another big test and we have to look at where the guys are physically and tap into our line-up in the right way and put a team there that we think will be ready for this game.”
Leeds were again without club captain Liam Cooper in Sussex.
Marsch was reluctant to take any chances with the defender, who played 45 minutes in the midweek Carabao Cup success against Barnsley but has yet to feature in the league this season.
“He picked up a little something in his calf so we decided to be a bit safe,” Marsch said.
“We’re disappointed with that but it’s not bad.”
