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WIN at Fulham on Tuesday night and Brighton and Hove Albion will lead England’s top-flight for the first time in their history.This, after making a £70million profit in the transfer window and having already won at Manchester United and West Ham, as part of a club-record nine-match unbeaten top-flight run.
Brighton are unbeaten from their opening four Premier League games this seasonCredit: PA
Graham Potter celebrates with match-winner Pascal Gross after his winner against LeedsCredit: PA
The Seagulls have the best defensive record in the country and conceded fewer goals than either United or Arsenal last term, as they secured a best-ever finish of ninth.
If manager Graham Potter possessed the self-assurance and quotability of Jose Mourinho and Brian Clough — or playing career of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard — he would be widely declared as a genius.
But if Brighton do beat Fulham, there is no chance of Potter declaring: ‘I think I’m a special one and although I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business, I’m in the top one’.
Especially as the 47-year-old has a masters degree in emotional intelligence. Which neither Mourinho nor Clough could have bragged about.
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Football doesn’t easily recognise a quiet genius like Potter — a jobbing left-back at a series of Midlands clubs in the 1980s, who proved himself as a water-into-wine merchant by leading obscure Ostersunds from the Swedish fourth tier into the Europa League.
Brighton have improved in all three of Potter’s previous seasons and have won at Anfield, Old Trafford, Tottenham and the Emirates (twice).

This summer they trousered £100m for Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma and Neal Maupay, yet there are no signs of standards dropping.
When the world wakes up to Potter’s qualities, the question is whether this deeply modest man — who claimed in a recent SunSport interview he walks around Brighton and Hove in disguise — would be interested in moving on?
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There is a distinct possibility that England will be looking for a new manager come January.
While Gareth Southgate is under contract with the FA until the 2024 Euros, he is likely to walk if England bomb at the World Cup and, equally, in the less-likely eventuality  they win the tournament.
The FA will want another English boss and have few other options. Gerrard and Lampard are hardly covering themselves in glory at Aston Villa or Everton.
Potter is not a product of the FA system, having clambered up the hard way through an Open University degree and those Swedish lower leagues.
Yet through his close working relationship with Dan Ashworth — formerly of Brighton and English football’s governing body — he would receive a glowing reference from a much-trusted figure in FA circles.
Ashworth, recently poached by Newcastle, is another key figure in Brighton’s rise.
Under his watch, Brighton recruited brilliantly, including Bissouma, Cucerella, Leandro Trossard, Moises Caicedo and Pascal Gross — an unsung 31-year-old German midfielder whose goals have defeated Manchester United and Leeds this season.
But master Potter moulded these little-known imports, along with Danny Welbeck and Adam Lallana — two born-again relics from Roy Hodgson’s England era — and created the benchmark for any English club without  stupid money to water-cannon around.
Brighton will go top of the table if they bear Fulham on Tuesday night at Craven CottageCredit: PA
Yet should England come calling, would Potter even fancy one of the most demanding and high-profile roles in national life?
Some who have dealt with him are highly sceptical.
When he was strongly linked with the Tottenham job last year, as Spurs went on that bizarre three-month search only to end up with Nuno Espirito Santo, Potter was not believed to be keen.
Now, with Gerrard’s job under threat at ambitious Villa, Brighton’s Solihull-born boss is being talked up as a candidate to take over at a club where he watched the 1982 European Cup winners as a kid.
Although Potter did start his playing career at Birmingham City and is non-commital when asked about his boyhood allegiances.
That, in itself, is typical of this radar-resistant, damned-elusive, limelight-dodger, who likes us to think of him ambling around Brighton’s Laines in a Groucho mask.
He may well be top of the richest league on Earth on Tuesday night, yet we hardly feel as if we know him.
And you’d imagine that is just how Potter likes it.

ELL FOR PARKER
IF getting sploshed 9-0 at Anfield wasn’t bad enough for Scott Parker, then the identity of two of Liverpool’s goalscorers — Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho — would have rubbed salt into the Bournemouth manager’s wounds.
Parker had given both Liverpool whizkids their Premier League debuts while managing Fulham.
The Cherries chief — also wanted by the fashion police — was then treated to a consoling arm around the shoulder from Jurgen Klopp while the match was still in progress.
That gesture was described as ‘classy’ by Match of the Day pundit Jermaine Jenas but ‘horribly patronising’ by most others — Parker, presumably, included.
Scott Parker’s Bournemouth were hit for nine by Liverpool at Anfield on SaturdayCredit: AFP
ALWAYS HIM
AT the age of 32, Mario Balotelli shows little sign of mellowing in Turkish football.
This weekend, our hero mouthed off at his manager Vincenzo Montella, who had to be dragged away from his fellow former Italian international striker, for fear that he might chin Balotelli.
And this after the final whistle of a victory for their team, Adana Demirspor.
Why always him? And why, after 18 goals in 31 matches last season, is he just about the only player in Europe Nottingham Forest haven’t tried to sign this summer?
Lord knows this crisis-ridden nation could do with some Balotelli-shaped gaiety.
Mario Balotelli was involved in an explosive bust-up with his Adana Demirspor boss Vincenzo MontellaCredit: Getty
POORLY HANDLED
A COUPLE of seasons back, Premier League players were continually  punished simply for having arms.
There was a succession of penalties awarded and goals disallowed for balls accidentally striking upper limbs.
And that seemed extreme.
This weekend, Manchester United’s Scott McTominay literally juggled the ball in his own area without conceding a penalty against Southampton.
And Forest’s Steve Cook tipped a ball over his own bar with an outstretched arm without getting a red. Which also seems extreme.
So refs, any chance of a bit of common sense?
You know, like there used to be.
Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay somehow didn’t give a penalty away for this handball against SouthamptonCredit: Enterprise
NOTHING BUT FLUFF
WATCHING the latest Amazon Prime ‘All Or Nothing’ on Arsenal provides fascinating glimpses — not least the fact Mikel Arteta’s David Brent motivational talks seem to work.
But let’s not confuse it for real journalism.
Like where Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is interviewed before last September’s North London derby and declares how much he appreciates the fixture’s meaning.
And no one says, ‘Hang on son, how come you didn’t turn up on time  the previous one?’.

WAY TOO GOOD
ERLING HAALAND is the Premier League’s leading scorer so far this season and Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard has been the outstanding individual talent in the top-flight.
Which makes you wonder how bad the other nine players in Norway’s starting XI must be for their nation to have not even reached the play-offs for this year’s World Cup.
Norweigan pair Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard have starred in the Premier League so far this seasonCredit: Getty
ROOT CAUSE
THAT bit when Joe Root was clearly struggling as England skipper and people kept insisting that Ben Stokes, as an all-rounder, would struggle to cope with the demands of captaincy.
Well after Stokes scored a century, took key wickets in both South African innings and led England fearlessly to an innings victory in the Second Test, what was that other bit all about? More

IF YOUR boss spoke to you like Mikel Arteta speaks to his players, you’d be straight off to complain to HR.The effing and jeffing Spaniard comes across as a raving lunatic in the Amazon series All or Nothing: Arsenal.
Mikel Arteta is not afraid to use some fruity languageCredit: AFP
But there is clearly method behind the apparent madness because Arsenal’s impressionable youngsters are not only tolerating the dressing-room tirades, they are positively thriving on them.
Arteta, we are told, is one of the finest tacticians in football, having learned his trade under the tutelage of Arsene Wenger as a player and Pep Guardiola as a coach.
Yet all we see in the behind-the-scenes footage is a coach screaming “let’s f****** go out there and win the f****** game” in the faces of his bemused players.
It’s a complete contrast to the calm and measured Arteta we see in his weekly press conference.
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And now we know why he always insists “what goes on in the dressing room stays in the dressing room.”
Which makes it all the more confusing as to why Arsenal ever agreed to the cameras invading the sanctity of Arteta’s personal space.
He hasn’t been done any favours by the programme’s selective editing, which understands that tactical tweaks on the training ground don’t make for compelling viewing but giving both barrels to your players most definitely does.
But the reality is that even the most cerebral managers resort to ‘industrial language’ when they want to get their message across in the few minutes available to them before kick-off or at half-time.
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And none of this should disguise the fact that Arteta clearly has a plan and knows exactly what he is doing.
More importantly, he has got everyone at the club to buy into his precious ‘process’ to Make Arsenal Great Again.

So when he decided that he wanted rid of dressing-room disruptors Mesut Ozil, Matteo Guendouzi and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the club backed him despite the cost involved.
Owner Stan Kroenke has allowed him to bring in around £270million of exciting young signings over the past year as well as awarding Arteta a lucrative new three-year contract.
And even the most sceptical of supporters are now starting to recognise a club moving back in the right direction after years of underachievement.
Of course, they are still a long way from pushing Manchester City for the Premier League title.
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Even breaking into the top four will be a challenge given the strength of the teams who finished above them last season.
But they are clearly in a much better place than they were this time last year, when they found themselves goalless, pointless and bottom of the table after three games.
In fact, with Bournemouth, Fulham, Aston Villa, Manchester United, Everton and Brentford next on their schedule, it’s not inconceivable that they could take maximum points from their first eight fixtures.
Arteta, though, will not allow anyone to get ahead of themselves because he knows from bitter experience that nothing is ever straightforward where Arsenal are concerned.
And should he need any reminder of just how quickly things can go wrong, he only needs to switch on his TV.
Arsenal: All or f****** Nothing.
NOTT A JOB LOT
THERE was a remarkable bit of transfer business at Nottingham Forest the other day.
They didn’t sign anyone for 24 hours.
Steve Cooper went a full day without signing anyone – then agreed a club-record deal for Morgan Gibbs-WhiteCredit: Alamy
Manager Steve Cooper has already got the hump with people laughing at the number of players the newly promoted club have bought this summer.
But it’s a good job the transfer window will soon be closing because they’re rapidly running out of space in the City Ground dressing room.
Maybe they could send a few of them down the road to nearby Leicester, who will take absolutely anyone right now.
JIM NOT SO DAFT
MANCHESTER UNITED fans waiting for Sir Jim Ratcliffe to buy their club would be well advised not to hold their breath.
In just the last fortnight United have been linked with Frenkie de Jong, Adrien Rabiot, Alvaro Morata, Casemiro, Joao Felix, Christian Pulisic, Antony, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Meunier and Marko bloody Arnautovic — and not one of them has been signed.
Even the world’s richest man and all-round weirdo, Elon Musk, has laughed off suggestions he could stump up the Glazers’ £5billion asking price.
So I’d give Sir Jim about 48 hours before he adds his name to that list of Old Trafford avoiders.
DEAN A DIMWIT
CONGRATULATIONS to Mike Dean for taking just three games as a full-time VAR to confirm what we suspected all along.
After 22 years ruining games as a Premier League ref, he is now cocking things up from behind a TV screen at Stockley Park.
Even with the benefit of ultra slow motion, myopic Mike still struggles to spot a foul.
He’s even had to admit he made mistakes after being left off this week’s fixtures because his advice to Anthony Taylor during the Chelsea-Spurs punch-up was so poor.
But it’s only a temporary absence. Like a wonky Terminator, he’ll be back.
NU WAY TO ACT
DARWIN NUNEZ has been told to ‘calm down, calm down’ by Liverpool after putting the nut in on Crystal Palace defender Joachim Andersen.
The Uruguayan hot-head is already earning comparisons to former Anfield idol Luis Suarez — which is not necessarily a good thing.
Darwin Nunez faces a three-match ban after his horrible headbuttCredit: Reuters
Let’s hope they’re not all wearing Nunez T-shirts to support their now banned team-mate at Old Trafford on Monday.
TODD A HUMBLE UN
TO Stamford Bridge, where the Democratic People’s Republic of Chelsea have unveiled a giant banner of Supreme Leader Todd Jong-Boehly.
Unlike Roman Abramovich, the new owner is clearly not going to be hiding his light under a bushel.
So if he wants a song to go along with his vanity banner, how about ‘Here ego, here ego’?
AJ LAST ORDERS
ANTHONY JOSHUA will be drinking in the last chance saloon tomorrow, which is the only place in Saudi Arabia where he can get a beer.
The former heavyweight champ insists he will not retire from boxing even if he loses his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
But a third defeat in five fights would be a hammer blow to AJ’s credibility and severely weaken his bargaining power in negotiations for future fights.
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So he needs to regain the WBA, IBF and WBO belts surrendered to Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last September if that £150million showdown with Tyson Fury is ever going to happen.
Not that many people would consider the chance to go 12 rounds with Fury much of an incentive. More

WHEN Jurgen Klopp complained about the dry pitch following Liverpool’s opening-day draw at newly promoted Fulham, how we all chuckled.He’d already had a moan about the timing of the previous week’s Community Shield meeting with Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp complained about the pitch at Fulham being dryCredit: AFP
So it was easy to accuse the grumbling German of getting his excuses in early.
But perhaps there was more to Klopp’s unease than just the unexpected dropping of two points.
Maybe, just maybe, he has seen the first signs of his team feeling the effects of the ageing process.
His starting line-up at Craven Cottage was the oldest in the Premier League over the weekend, with six players the wrong side of 30 before 36-year-old James Milner came on as a sub.
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To make matters worse, Thiago Alcantara joined a considerable injury list which leaves Liverpool with up to eight players unavailable for their next game, at home to Crystal Palace on Monday.
And if they are already struggling to cope one week in, you have to wonder how they are going to deal with the demands of a full league programme with a World Cup thrown into the mix for good measure.
Liverpool played an extraordinary 63 games last season as they reached the final of every competition they entered.
Yet they still remained competitive right to the very end, pushing Manchester City all the way to the line in the title race before being edged out in the Champions League final by Real Madrid.
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It was a remarkable feat of endurance made possible by the fact that they suffered no major injuries to any of their key players.
But they will not always be that lucky, no matter how much they might wrap their stars in cotton wool between matches.
Klopp is still haunted by the memory of Liverpool’s title defence in 2020-21 being totally undermined by Virgil van Dijk’s ruptured cruciate.
So you can understand him being a little jumpy about his options being exposed so early on when he had to name three academy kids on the bench at Craven Cottage last Saturday.

He is doing his best to overhaul his ageing squad, as demonstrated by the acquisitions of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Fabio Carvalho, the sale of Sadio Mane and a new contract for Harvey Elliott.
And there is still time to make further additions before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
Yet that does not get away from the fact that so many of Liverpool’s most important players — Van Dijk, Mo Salah, Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Joel Matip and Roberto Firmino — are all entering football’s twilight years.
Now I’m not suggesting they are going to be falling off a cliff any time soon because when everyone is fit and available they are still a match for anyone.
But do they still have the physical capacity to maintain the monumental levels required to topple champions City?
Only time will tell… and that’s a commodity which is running out for some of Klopp’s weary warhorses.
Eddie’s in mire
THE Battle of Waterloo might have been won on the playing fields of Eton but 2023’s Rugby World Cup won’t be settled by posh boys.
At least that’s the theory of England coach Eddie Jones, who claims players educated at private schools lack resilience as well as leadership skills.
Those comments have got right under the skin of the RFU, who summoned the Aussie upstart to headquarters for a b*****king.
And they have every right to feel offended. After all, look at what a marvellous job Bullingdon Boris Johnson has made of running the country.
Eddie Jones has taken a rap on the knuckles from the RFUCredit: Getty
Al at it again
IT takes some doing to get Arsenal, Manchester United AND Inter Milan to all terminate your contract — but that’s what Alexis Sanchez has just achieved.
At least Arsenal had the brief “benefit” of obtaining Henrikh Mkhitaryan in exchange when they waved adios to Sanchez.
All United and Inter got for their troubles was a massive black hole in their bank account.
Now it’s the turn of Marseille to believe that they can get a tune out of the Chilean piano player and occasional footballer.
They have even handed him a two-year deal with the option of a further 12 months, which is obviously never going to be triggered.
Will these clubs never learn?
Alexis Sanchez has joined French club MarseilleCredit: AFP
Todd job is fool’s gold
IT’S like the first days of the Roman Empire all over again at Chelsea as the new owner Todd Boehly splashes the cash like there’s no tomorrow.
As good as Marc Cucurella may be, there is no way on God’s green earth anyone should be paying £55million for a Brighton left-back.
Now there’s talk of Chelsea forking out somewhere in the region of £75m for the Leicester centre-half Wesley Fofana, £67m for Barcelona outcast Frenkie de Jong and another £15m for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
And that’s on top of the £110.1m they’ve already spent on Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Carney Chukwuemeka and Gabriel Slonina.
All of which adds up to a £322.1m summer spending spree which makes even Roman Abramovich’s first few months at Stamford Bridge look tame.
It’s all very well Boehly wanting to make his mark at the club and there is no easier way of winning over sceptical supporters than by launching a transfer trolley dash.
But they say that a fool and his money are soon parted and Tinkerman Todd needs to show that he is nobody’s fool.
Fifa nap for Qat
NINETEEN weeks after the World Cup draw was made, it has suddenly dawned on Fifa that the host nation wouldn’t be playing in the opening match.
Not quite sure how that one slipped under the radar — but the governing body has finally rectified that error by starting the tournament a day earlier than scheduled.
Which means this football extravaganza will now get underway with a blockbusting clash between Qatar and the mighty Ecuador.
It’s a match which has my name written all over it.
The World Cup will now start a day earlier than scheduledCredit: AFP More

THE SPIRIT in the Manchester United camp out in Bangkok and Australia pointed to a new positive start for the club.While Erik ten Hag made the point that such tours had their downside, in terms of travel etc.. he felt the two-and-a-half weeks together would help the players bond again.
Ronaldo is desperate to leave Man UtdCredit: Rex
Ten Hag got off to a losing start as Man Utd bossCredit: Rex
He could sense how down everyone was after the end to last season and wanted to put a smile back on faces.
The new boss looked to have achieved that.
The social media postings of players having fun and indeed the performances looked like the dark clouds had been cast away.
Questions about Ronaldo would always come up, but he wasn’t with them and Ten Hag was enjoying working with the players he had.
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Then they returned and it all blew up again and the work done in pre-season looks to have been washed away.
Ronaldo, 37, is such a huge figure at the club that his mood seems to permeate through the camp.
He is clearly not in a good one.
Having missed the tour his first action came in an Old Trafford friendly against Rayo Vallecano.
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He missed an early chance then there was a bizarre passage of play when James Garner passed the ball to him on half way and Ronaldo passed it straight back.
He did that four times in all before, Garner by now being closed down passed the ball sideways to someone else.
Ronaldo and the manager would have words during that half when in a break of play he called the players to his technical area.
Ronaldo’s reaction to the instructions he was being given was to put his hands out to his sides and seemingly protest.
It was not a good look and he was hooked at half-time then left the stadium before the end of the game.
For a manager who had been preaching ‘togetherness’ throughout the tour, this was ‘unacceptable’.
At the training ground his brooding figure is getting some players down.
A lot of the younger ones who were excited at his arrival, often feel kowtowed by his presence.
The immediate problem is that United do not have a recognised fit striker without him.
Anthony Martial missed the first game with a hamstring problem and while he had a good pre-season it remains to be seen whether that will translate itself into the Premier League.
Their inexplicable and short lived pursuit of former Stoke and West Ham striker Marko Arnautovic from Bologna was abandoned when a £7.6million offer was rejected.
They weren’t going to pay any more and the outcry from supporters also had a say in their u-turn.
Ten Hag tried to play Christian Eriksen as a false nine against Brighton and it simply did not work.
When Ronaldo did come on United looked better, but not much.
While there were cheers when he entered the field of play there were boos as well.
The group that waited above the tunnel when Ronaldo walked off at the end gestured as if to say ‘just go’.
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The problem is Ten Hag may have little choice but to play him in the next game against Brentford.
Hopes resting on someone who won’t even want to be there – how does a club the size of Manchester United get into such a mess? More