Dean Smith believes a mini-league has formed between the bottom six as a number of sides have sealed a positive fate within their initial games back. Both Southampton and Newcastle have picked up enough points to keep them safe from the drop in Smith’s eyes – with the Saints beating Norwich, with Newcastle winning over Sheffield United and claiming a point against the Villans.
Dean Smith said “It looks that way at the moment, but you win one game and all of a sudden Brighton are in it again, Their four points out of their two games has certainly helped them but they’ve got a tough run of fixtures, That’s what all clubs down there are looking to do, is try and drag other teams into it and you only do that by winning games and getting three points. I haven’t to be honest, I’ve just looked at the fixtures that we’ve got to play. You target some more than others and that’s what we’ve been looking to do. You set a game plan for each game and just try and win the next one; that’s all you can do and see where that takes you.”