Are Brighton losing their spark?

BBC Sport's chief football news reporter Simon Stone has been answering your questions.

Matt asked: Brighton do not seem to be the same force as last season. Some say Roberto De Zerbi has been 'found out' but personally I believe their strategy of selling their best players, even for big money, will only ever see them drop down. Thoughts?

Simon replied: I think Brighton are a fascinating club. Historically, they are on for one of their best ever finishes. Even in this Premier League era, they are doing well.

However, their standards have been set and living up to them is incredibly difficult. Last season, Kaoru Mitoma, Pervis Estupinan and Evan Ferguson were all superb. This season they have largely been injured. In addition they sold Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo. And on top of all that, they had a European campaign to contend with.

Like West Ham, Brighton are not a club who can pay huge amounts of money on players to fill out a squad to use when injuries bite. Roberto De Zerbi has had to manage that situation. While David Moyes gets criticised for being too negative, De Zerbi is too open.

The truth is neither club has the squad depth needed to compete across a 38 game season, with European demands added in. The respective managers try and deal with the situation in the best way they can.