Glenn Murray is enjoying one of the best spells of his career at the moment for Brighton.
The Seagulls frontman has five goals to his name in the Premier League in the first eight games of the season, which is half the amount of goals he scored in the whole of last season.
Murray has always been a proven goalscorer
Murray has always been a proven goalscorer throughout his career. At Rochdale, Murray scored 26 goals in 60 appearances.
In his five seasons at Crystal Palace he scored 47 goals in 125 appearances.
At now at Brighton, Murray has been top goalscorer in 3 of the 5 seasons he has played for Albion, in 2009/10(22), 2016/17(23) and 2017/18(14) and he is currently Albion’s top goalscorer this season, with five goals in his first eight games this season.
Murray has scored 99 goals in 230 appearances for Brighton, which is just one off the 100.
Murray stats
The stats behind Murray's goal-scoring are fantastic, particularly when you consider the fact that the first time around he cost £300,000 in 2008.
His subsequent arrival for £3 million in January 2017 was also cheap when you look at it from the perspective modern day inflated transfer window . So let’s get into Murray’s stats.
62 of Murray’s 99 goals have come at home, with him scoring 30 in 68 appearances at The Withdean and another 32 in just 47 appearances at The Amex.
The Brighton striker has impressive stats this year, he has scored 14 goals in 27 appearances.
This is even more than Real Madrid's frontman, Karim Benzema scoring 12 goals in 38 appearances, yet Benzema has been nominated for a Ballon d'Or.
The only player to have scored more goals than Murray in the league this season is Chelsea's Eden Hazard, with seven goals to his name.
Murray for England?
Over the last season and a bit, there has been plenty of talk of Murray being called up to the England squad. However, at 35 years of age time is not on Murray's side.
Gareth Southgate has always stated that he would pick players based on how they perform at club level. However, Danny Welbeck who has only scored one goal in the Premier League this season for Arsenal has been picked over Murray.
This is despite Murray starting every game bar one this season in the Premier League, whereas Welbeck's appearances this season in the Premier League have all come off the bench.
How vital is Murray to Brighton?
Murray has been vital to Brighton this season, he has scored five of the nine goals that The Seagulls have scored this season.
This means that without Murray's goals, Brighton would be a lot further down the table.
Murray at the moment is one of the first names you'd expect to see on the teamsheet, especially in the form that he currently in.
His sheer presence up there mixed with his potent goal-scoring ability and the work rate he puts in makes him such a good striker and a fan's favourite.
One thing is for sure, if Murray continues to perform like he has so far this season he will not only finish Brighton's top goalscorer in the Premier League, but he may end up being called up by England.