Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton believes that the positive feel around the club, and his team’s performance levels so far, will stand the side in good stead going into the final four months of the Premier League campaign.
Albion host West Ham United this afternoon at the Amex Stadium looking to build on Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Southampton at St Mary’s, and the boss believes in his side’s ability to continue getting results, based on their performances so far this season.
He said, “I think that when you come into this stage of the season there’s more pressure on everyone and that grows with each week that goes by as the amount of games decrease.
“You have to stick to the way you want to play and draw on the belief the players have – I still believe that we’re in a good position and have taken big confidence from the way we’ve conducted ourselves in games this season.
“Even in games where we’ve let in some goals, we’ve given a good account of ourselves and that base of what the team has achieved so far will give them good confidence.
“There’s been a good feel around the place throughout and that’s what will carry us into the last part of the season and help us ensure we get positive outcomes at the end of the campaign.”
This afternoon’s opponents will pose a different test to the one Hughton’s men defeated 3-0 at the London Stadium in October - with the Hammers seeing an upturn in form since David Moyes took over as manager.
“When we played them in October they were going through a difficult period but the manager has turned things around.
“He’s now got some injury problems to deal with but both he and his side have coped with it - and what David [Moyes] has is very good experience as a manager.
“That means that when they go through a spell, as they are at the moment with a few injuries, he can adapt the team well to the way he wants to play.”
The Seagulls have picked up ten points on their travels and 15 on home soil so far during their maiden season in the top flight, and the boss reflected on those points tallies.
“It’s slightly disappointing that we’ve only got those points [from home matches] – in the season before last we drew a lot of home matches and when we looked at why we didn’t make the top two in the Championship. It was because we didn’t turn enough of those draws into wins.
“Away from home is always going to be difficult and I think overall I haven’t been too unhappy with how we’ve fared on the road.
“The home games left against sides around us take on extra significance but that could be said about all of the teams in the bottom half of the table – every manger would say the same thing about their home form.”
Fans can watch the manager's full look ahead to this afternoon's game on Seagulls TV by clicking here.