Club news

Hughton On: Manchester City

By Kieran Cleeves • 08 May 2018

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton spoke to the media ahead of Wednesday night’s Premier League meeting against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, and here is what came out of the pre-match press conference at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.

COMPARING ACHIEVEMENTS: “It’s what we’ve worked incredibly hard to do. I’ve been asked many times what is greater, getting promotion to this division or staying here, and it’s probably a very difficult one for me to answer.

“Certainly last season, at the time, I felt was the biggest achievement, because we all know how difficult the Championship is to get out of.

“Many bigger teams than ourselves have found it difficult. But we’ve also found out how difficult it is to stay in this division.

“It’s relentless, the quality that we’ve been up against week-in week-out, but we’ve got a group of lads that have acquitted themselves really well.”

STRONG FINISH: “All you can do is beat the same drum. I can give them the example of last season, where we did take our foot off the pedal and put ourselves from being in a comfortable position to that not being the case.

“The difference in these two games is the magnitude. We’re coming up against two of the best teams in the division, and they’re arguably two of the toughest away games that you can have.

“That in itself is a great challenge. There won’t be anybody that doesn't want to play well in these games. I’d like to think that the challenge is what will motivate the players at this stage.”

MAN CITY REACTION: “They’re incredibly good professionals and are very well drilled. They’re going to have off days, but they tend to bounce back very quickly - that’s the philosophy that they have at the club.

“They have a manager that demands that and that’s the reason why they’ve been the team they are this season. We don’t expect anything less than an incredibly difficult game.

“It’s about finishing the season well. At the moment, there’s a nice taste because we’ve achieved it, but we want that at the end of the season as well.

“We don’t want to fall short because these are two games where not only can you fall short, you can fall well short - and we don’t want that feeling.

CLIMB THE TABLE: “I can remember being at Norwich in my first season, and we jumped something like four or five places on the last day of the season.

“I’m not saying that’s going to be the case, but it’s an indication of what could happen and why it’s worth fighting right the way through until the end.

“Take the financial aspects out of it - just for the team, we want to try and finish as high as we can.”

Fans can watch the manager's full look ahead to tomorrow's game above on Seagulls TV - and supporters can sign up to the service by clicking here.