Jakub Moder has gone top of the table for Albion.

The Poland international is now their leading provider of assists this season with three.

That happened as a result of his clever work to make room for Neal Maupay to score against Brentford.

Pascal Gross had been top man for a long time after his part in two early-season goals.

Moder drew level with him through his part in the dramatic late equaliser by Maupay at Southampton.

His first assist came on the opening day at Burnley, also for Maupay.

There has been no more prolific link up in the Prem this season than those three Moder-to-Maupay strikes.

They are one of five assist-and-scorer duos to have contributed three goals this term.

There are some big names among them.

The others are Andy Robertson to Diogo Jota for Liverpool, Paul Pogba to Bruno Fernandes for Manchester United, Michail Antonio to Said Benrahma for West Ham and Emmanuel Dennis to Josh King for Watford.

But how about the word ‘assist’ in its true meaning rather than that given it by, initially, number crunchers in American sport?

You can often help in a goal without getting an assist (as Moder did for the winner at Brentford, for example).

You can also be given an assist when your final pass maybe did not help all that much.

Moder is now in Albion’s top ten for minutes played this season.

With ten starts and six games off the bench, he has played some part in 16 matches, behind only Leandro Trossard (17, all starts).

The only time Moder did not get minutes in the Prem was at home to Newcastle, when he remained an unused sub.

That all suggests he is helping Albion’s overall gameplan, or assisting in the true sense of the verb, in a way Graham Potter likes.

Albion’s head coach was asked about the midfield unit after they secured a win over Brentford in the absence of Yves Bissouma.

He said: “Really good. In the first half especially I thought they played with real energy and understanding.

“Jakub from the top really fell on second balls.

“We tried to nick balls off them, press them high, which is not easy to do because they have got a good structure and they use their front players well so they can go over your head.

“You have got to pick second balls up and I think they did it well.

“They rotated when they needed to, attacked the back line when they could. A good performance.”

Albion have midfield decisions to make going into tonight.

Bissouma is free of suspension and Gross and Steven Alzate both played only limited minutes against Brentford.

Does Adam Lallana have another start in him so quickly?

Potter will check on his players and added: “It’s a constant process of communication.

“In the end you have got to make the right decision in terms of players’ recovery time and when they can go again.

DANNY WELBECK IS 'DIFFERENT LEVEL' FOR BRIGHTON

“Think about what they can do but it’s a tough ask.

“Some of the guys have limited time in terms of training and fitness from periods of isolation. But we are in a good place.

“The squad is fighting for each other, which is important.”

The challenge they will face is one of the toughest in European football.

Potter said: “Chelsea are the champions of Europe so they have got fantastic players all over the pitch.

MORE CONTENT, FEWER ADS. CLICK HERE TO SNAP UP OUR NEW YEAR OFFER ON ARGUS SUBSCRIPTIONS

“Great organisation from Thomas Tuchel and his staff and they are pushing for the Premier League title.

“Whenever you play against the best, you always learn about yourself, you learn about your team.

“It’s a huge challenge so we are looking forward to that.

“We have to start again.

“The boys will be in good spirits after three points and we will give it our best.”