‘Talent’ – Brighton star named in BBC Sport Team of the Week alongside Arsenal and Tottenham heroes

The BBC football pundit has selected Albion’s teenage striker following his stunning hat-trick in Saturday evening’s 3-1 home win over Newcastle United.

The Republic of Ireland international pounced from close range for his first goal, after Magpies keeper Nick Pope had dropped Billy Gilmour’s speculative long-range effort.

Ferguson added his second with a beautiful curling shot from 25 yards before completing his first career hat-trick via a Fabian Schär deflection.

Reflecting on Ferguson’s performance on the BBC Sport website, Crooks said: “If Newcastle boss Eddie Howe looked shell-shocked after the defeat to Liverpool last week he seemed totally dismayed due to his team's performance against Brighton as Ferguson made them pay for such abject defending.

“The Brighton teenager has always been a talent and the Geordies just didn't give him the respect his finishing prowess deserved as he claimed a hat-trick. Brighton were given a lesson in counter-attacking football against West Ham last week but recovered well enough from that loss to dish out a formidable display of their own against Newcastle.

“Regardless, both Newcastle and Brighton have come a long way since former manager Chris Hughton took them both into the Premier League in 2010 and 2017 respectively. In those days they were fighting to stay in the top flight, now they are playing European football.”

Ferguson was named alongside Tottenham Hotspur trio Cristian Romero, James Maddison and Son Heung-min, and Arsenal pair Declan Rice and Martin Ødegaard in Crooks’ Team of the Week.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall, West Ham United centre-back Kurt Zouma, Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, and Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland round out Crooks’ XI.