Club news

Hughton Takes Positives From Wembley Effort

By Alex Stedman • 17 April 2018

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton wants his side to draw encouragement from the reverse fixture at Wembley Stadium when the team host Tottenham Hotspur this evening. 

Albion face the north London side at the Amex Stadium this evening, and the boss insisted that positives could be taken from the last time the two sides met in the Premier League back in December.

He said, “We stayed in the game at Wembley until the second goal – the first one was quite fortuitous as well, so we have to take the positives from that because it was a decent performance against a top team. 

“They’ve developed more since their and their patterns of play with European experience has helped them. 

“The Arsenal win against one of the so-called ‘bigger’ sides within the division should give the players more belief – you have to draw on anything that you can that will give you confidence. 

“You want the players believing that they can get a result – that comes from the belief in the way you’re playing and performances against some of the top six already so far this season.”

Manchester City’s title win was confirmed at the weekend following West Brom’s victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Seagulls manager discussed the competitiveness of the division and emphasised that the gap between the top sides and the rest of the league isn’t as stark as other countries – with more sides being classed in the top bracket in England compared to other leagues.

“I don’t think it’s too different in any other country, what we have here is a top six, those who are near to that and then a gulf between a lot of other sides.

“But I don’t think it’s a concern and it’s never been dramatically different and the competition here is better than other major European countries. 

“West Brom’s victory over Manchester United won’t be something I mention specifically to the players but they very conscious of all results that go on – any time a result like that happens that will obviously give us encouragement.

“It means you can at times be able to compete – for ourselves we look at both games against Manchester United games away from home and we’ve done quite well in the others as well.” 

Albion will go in search of a better result following the weekend’s defeat to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, but the manager was keen to highlight the positive mood throughout the camp given how the team has already fared so far this season. 

“One thing that I have to say that has been really good all year is the feel amongst the players – straight after Saturday you know they’d be disappointed with how the game went, that’s normal.

“But the mood around the place when we train is very good, and it always has been – I think it’s the feeling of a group of players that know that things will go against us at times.

“The best way to cope with that is to look to always bounce back.”