Brighton & Hove Albion defender Shane Duffy is looking forward to facing former club Everton on Saturday, and expressed his gratitude to the Toffees for their role in his football upbringing.
Duffy began his career at the Toffees and explained that his return to Goodison Park will be an emotional one.
He said, “I owe the club a lot. I grew up to become a man. They gave me a platform to perform and thankfully I played a few times. I’m looking forward to going back there.
“I always knew that Everton were a top club in the Premier League and you have to be really good to break through. I then went onto Yeovil, Scunthorpe and Blackburn.
“I don’t think it’s ever a good time to play Everton away from home. Their home record is quite good and if you look at the players they have and the money they spent in the summer, you know it’s going to be a tough game.
“I know from playing at Goodison Park that it’s a tough place to play at. When the fans get behind them, there are not many better atmospheres in football. But we’re flying and nothing can stop us at the minute. If we keep playing like we did on Sunday, then I don’t think many teams can stop us.”
The Seagulls head into the match sitting tenth in the table and is urging his team-mates to continue their recent positive run of form to move further away from the bottom three.
“Everyone knows how tight it is in that bottom half of the table. It’s nice not to be on the second page of the table for once, but there’s still a long way to go.
“There are nine huge games remaining, but we’ve got momentum with us and another win against Everton on Saturday would push us away from them.”
The Irishman was pleased to provide an assist for Lewis Dunk to get his first goal of the season, and is now eager to get on the scoresheet himself.
“I’m delighted for the big man after the unfortunate own goals and he took it well. I said afterwards that he owes me one now!
“The manager is more delighted than anyone that one of us scored. Connor [Goldson] put pressure us on to score, so it’s just me left now.”
“The first goal was something that we worked on. They didn’t mark us and it was all zonal.
“We knew that we could get a run on them and I’ve come close to scoring a few times. I know I’ll get one and it’s just about being patient.”