Albion come into the game with the Canaries today aiming to make it three wins from as many home matches in the Premier League following successes over Tottenham Hotspur and Everton last month, and the midfielder spoke of what it’s like to play in the side at the current time.
He said, “I think performances have always been there. It’s what we have tried to do week on week - improve our performance levels and hope that results will come, and two wins from our last three matches is a good return.
“It’s an enjoyable team to be a part of and we’ve been working on what the manager wants us to do from the first day he came through the door. We had a meeting straight away and he explained what he wanted, as well as what he demands of the players. I think everyone has reacted well - the players that we have got in the changing room suit the style and recently it’s reaped it’s rewards.
“It’s my first time playing this sort of style in terms of an attacking style of football, and the word from the changing room is that people are enjoying it, so if you put them both together and get results, then you are on to a winning formula.’’
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Since Potter’s arrival at the end of May, the Seagulls have developed a distinctive style of passing play, and Stephens revealed that the boss began to get those ideas across from a very early stage in pre-season.
“He has a clear plan of what he wants from every individual player. For myself he’s been a breath of fresh air along with a lot of the other players, and when you have a team plan that doesn’t really differ between home and away, then it makes my job much easier,” he continued.
“We always want to climb the table and we know that won’t be easy, but on the whole, our performance levels have been good. Apart from the last few weeks, I don’t think we have had the points we have deserved from the performance levels that we have given. We have turned it around recently and we need to build on that and hopefully we can climb up the table.
“We probably need to be a bit more clinical. We have had meetings and discussions on how to get better and I think that’s one main area we can improve, but I’m sure every club would say the same thing. We believe we have got it right in the defensive and midfield thirds, and goals all over the field would help in any team."
The contest with Daniel Farke’s side this afternoon represents another opportunity to seal another three points on home soil, but Stephens was keen to highlight the competitive nature of the division and the strengths of the similar style of play from today’s opposition.
"We’ve got back into some good form at home, but we try not to differ too much in terms of home performances compared to our away ones. That’s going to key for us. We want to be strong at home and we want to keep clean sheets. I think we have had some tough games and some bad luck at home, otherwise we would be further up the table.
"Norwich are in this division for a reason and they are a good footballing side - I am a fan of the way they play football. It is a tough division and they will find themselves in sticky patches like we will find ourselves in as well, but we go into the game off the back of a good result and a decent performance last weekend.
“Outside the top six or eight it’s so tight and a couple of back-to-back wins would mean you could find yourself up the table. But the other side of that, is that if you don’t have a good month or a good couple of games, it can go the other way. We have identified that performances have been good and if we build on that, then I am sure we can continue to put results together.”