Brighton & Hove Albion striker Glenn Murray highlighted the importance of continuing the momentum from the last campaign and has urged his team-mates to improve on last season’s 15th-place finish.
Murray recognised the challenge of competing in a continuously improving division, but believes the team have more than proved their capabilities at the top level.
He said, “That’s the aim [to replicate last season’s achievements] and to hopefully better it.
“We started off last season tentatively and didn’t know what we were letting ourselves in for. We hadn’t played in the league before as a group and this year we know what to expect and I think we can carry on from where we left off last season.
“The Premier League gets better year in year out; we’re not one of the newly-promoted sides now and people know us, but we also know them too.
“We know what the level is and what we need to do. As long as we can do that as a group and a unit, then hopefully we’ll be successful.”
The Seagulls frontman also highlighted the importance of the first few weeks of pre-season and the upcoming training camp in Austria.
“It’s about getting your body used to physical activity again and adjusting to the impact on your body.
“It has been resting for five-and-a-half weeks, so it takes a while to get used to crashing into each other and getting used to knocks and bruises and things.
“I kept a relatively good base of fitness during the break and now it’s time to step it up in pre-season. I went on a few runs, but did more bike work to rest my joints because we pound them for ten months a year and it’s nice to give those a rest.
“It will take a couple of weeks to get back up to speed and then we go over to Austria, which will be a very tough. There will be lots of games to play and that’s when it will start to feel real.”