Defender Dan Burn expects this evening’s match against Liverpool to be an incredibly tough affair, but he wants to see the Seagulls prove themselves against this season’s champions.
A brace from Virgil Van Dijk in the first half at Anfield in November put Liverpool in control, but Davy Propper, Lewis Dunk and Aaron Connolly all went close during a second-half resurgence from Albion, with Dunk grabbing what would proved to be a consolation goal from a smartly taken free-kick in a 2-1 defeat.
It’s those levels Burn wants to see replicated at the Amex tonight, but he knows it won’t be an easy task.
He said, “I thought we matched them for most of that game. They scored from two set-pieces which we’re normally good at defending, so that was quite unlike us.
“If the game had gone on a little bit longer, we might have picked something up. But it showed why Liverpool are champions this year - even when not playing well they are still picking up the results they need.
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“We know it’s going to be a really tough game but we want to prove that we can take on the best and we will be ready for them.”
The game against Jurgen Klopp’s side comes after the 1-0 win at Norwich City last Saturday that went a long way to securing Premier League status for the Seagulls next season.
Seven points out of 12 have been collected since the restart, and Burn praised the condition his teammates returned in after lockdown.
“We kept ourselves very fit in the period off that we had, so when we came back we were ready to go,” he added.
“Picking up the win against Arsenal in our first game back gave us a lot of confidence, and the Leicester game – when we missed the penalty – was a good point that we deserved.
“We are full of confidence, we have a very good squad, we have players that can come on and change the game and having five subs has probably helped us a lot, so if it isn’t going our way we can mix it up.
“With Liverpool and Manchester City, which are the two toughest games in the league, coming up we knew we had to win the Norwich game to give ourselves a good chance
“I think we can be happy with the situation we’re in, but we can’t sit back on it and think ‘we’re done’.
"We need to pick up as many points as we can until we’re mathematically safe. . You wouldn’t have thought Southampton could have beaten City but they did and other teams will get results.”
Albion’s recent run of form has been more in keeping with the sort of points return Burn, the former Fulham and Birmingham City defender, expected this season. Graham Potter’s side having already matched last season’s tally with five games still to play.
He said, “There’s different styles and different philosophies that managers have and one isn’t better than the other.
"It depends how we gel as a team, but I believe our performances this season have warranted more points.
“It’s easy saying that but I genuinely believe we should be higher up the table.
"It’s nice to see the hard work we have put in during the season is paying off a little bit now but we’ll keep working hard to improve until the end of the season.”