Mark Lawrenson believes that momentum is key for Evan Ferguson after the Brighton & Hove Albion striker ended his goalscoring drought in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The 20-year-old scored his first Premier League goal since November 2023, and Lawrenson says the goals could soon flow again with a consistent run in Fabian Hurzeler’s side.
“It is not unusual when a young player comes in, does extremely well one season, and then gets all sorts of niggles in the next season whenever he comes onto play,” he told FourFourTwo in association with Freebets.com. “When these young players come in, people rave about them. But let's judge him after year two and after year two, if he's still in the team and doing well, then he's going to be an outstanding player. Ferguson now needs to start some games. He's got all the ability and we just need to see what he can do.”
Praise also heaped on Danny Welbeck
Lawrenson praised the quality of attacking talent at Hurzeler’s disposal and been hugely impressed by Danny Welbeck’s progress, after the striker netted his sixth goal of the season against Wolves.
“He must be 84 by now! I don't know what he's on but I want some,” he added. “He's been brilliant because every time you look at him over the season you think he's going to get injured again.
“But he's as good as anybody at the moment. Joao Pedro is also an outstanding player. Brighton have obviously got a few players that are itching to get on and play. So, they're in a really good position.”
The former Seagulls defender explained that a top-10 finish should be the club’s minimum target this campaign, and says there is no reason why they cannot make a sustained challenge for European qualification year after year.
“Their aim should be at the very least to finish in the top 10,” he explained.
When quizzed if they can repeatedly challenge for European football, he replied: “I do. And the great thing for them is that they're getting rest while other teams up and around there, fighting with them, are already playing in Europe.
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“It's really good for the manager. For most of the time, he can work with his players all week. Whereas teams regularly playing in midweek can't work that much on the stuff they want to do.
“And if you're a new manager, this is really helpful.”
