Brighton & Hove Albion begin their second season in the Premier League after comfortably avoiding immediate relegation back to The Championship, which many people predicted would happen.
The Seagulls are aiming to kick on and again comfortably avoid relegation, but they will be looking to finish higher than 15th, even if that is just to finish a few place higher and finish mid table.
What Happened last season
Brighton invested heavily over last season, breaking their transfer record four different times on Matthew Ryan, Davy Propper, Jose Izquierdo and finally Jurgen Locadia.
As mentioned above Albion finished 15th in a season which was full of many of highs, but did have a couple of low points.
The highs included some incredible performances, which saw them secure victories over Manchester United and Arsenal at home. In addition, they also managed to do the double over both West Ham and Swansea City.
At one point during the season at the start of November, Brighton climbed to their highest place that season in eighth, after a 1-0 away victory over Swansea.
The only low came in the month of December when The Seagulls lost four out of their seven games that month and one stage after being beaten 4-0 at home to Chelsea dropped down to 16th place.
Brighton pulled off some great results in 2018 including their highest scoring game in which they put four past Swansea at The Amex in a 4-1 win. They followed this up by beating Arsenal 2-1 at The Amex.
Albion also pulled off another couple of good results drawing 1-1 at home with Tottenham Hotspur and beating Manchester United 1-0 at home. The United result secured Brighton's Premier League safety, with two games to spare.
The Seagulls also did particularly well in the FA Cup, reaching the quarter-finals where they were beaten by Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The season was very successful on the whole with the great finish in the league and cup. Also, there were plenty of star performers throughout the season, but two shone. These were top scorer Glenn Murray and summer signing Pascal Gross, who struck a formidable partnership in the attacking third of the pitch.
Effect of the summer transfer window
Brighton have been busy so far in this window, spending over £50m on eight first team signings.
The window has seen Brighton shatter their transfer record once again this time to sign Alireza Jahanbakhsh from AZ Alkmaar for a fee of around £17-£18m. Albion have also bolstered their in a number of areas, mainly in goal.
This is due to last season's backup keepers Tim Krul and Nikki Maenpaa moving on to get more game time at Championship clubs.
Brighton have then gone and signed David Button and Jason Steele to provide backup to Ryan for the upcoming season.
Albion also added to their defence with the signings with Bernardo and Leon Balogun.
They also added to their strike force with the signing of long-term target, Florin Andone from Deportivo La Coruna.
The place where Brighton have spent big is in midfield with the signings of Yves Bissouma from Lille and Jahanbakhsh, which has cost over £30 million to secure both of their services.
The Seagulls spending shows their intent to improve their squad and add more depth and quality to it, in order to finish higher in the table this season.
Brighton have also seen nine players permanently depart the club, so this is another reason why they have strengthened in this window.
The Seagulls are looking to add to their squad before Thursday's deadline, with another centre-back a big priority for the manager, Chris Hughton.
The pre-season review
Albion have had a positive pre-season. They began with a week-long training camp in Austria in which they ended it with a 1-1 draw with Swiss top flight side, St Gallen in their first friendly.
They then had a split friendly on the same day with part of the squad facing Portsmouth at the training academy, while the other half travelled to take on League One side, Charlton Athletic. Both the games ended in 1-1 draws.
Then four days later Brighton took on AFC Wimbledon and lost 2-1.
The following week in midweek they travelled to France to take on Patrick Viera's Nice. This saw The Seagulls win 1-0.
Brighton then took on Birmingham City at St Andrew's and drew 1-1.
Their final pre-season took place at The Amex when they faced FC Nantes and won 2-1.
Overall, Albion's pre-season has been positive and they will be looking to kick on and get on to a good start on Saturday when they travel to Vicarage Road to take on Watford on Saturday.