Brighton & Hove Albion dropped points from a winning position for the sixth time this season and now face two huge encounters in Bournemouth and Watford which could determine their fate in the league. This was a game seagulls should have won or the one they needed to win. The Seagulls have secured just seven points from their last eight matches and currently sit two points ahead of Aston Villa, who occupy the final relegation spot.
Speaking about current struggles, Graham Potter said “Comparisons to last year aren’t useful for me because I wasn’t here. Sometimes you get points you do or sometimes don’t deserve. I don’t think we’ve been lucky to get our current tally, but of course we can always improve. We’ll have moments where we don’t win, this is a really tough league. We had nine wins last year, we need to learn from all of our experiences and try to improve. Everyone is capable of getting results in this division.”
The positive light for Graham Potter’s Brighton is there are no fresh injury concerns to contend with and is set to have a full squad available apart from long-term absentees Dan Burn and Jose Izquierdo.
Graham Potter has attempted to reduce expectations from him by saying he expected people to think he was a “numpty from the Championship” upon his arrival at the south coast club in the summer. He was saying this on eve of questions about his credentials and whether team were better than Chris Hughton.
Graham Potter said “I would have thought so. Some numpty from the Championship, 10th place [with Swansea last year]. Be careful what you wish for, that type of narrative. I can understand that, of course, because you’re replacing a really respected guy that’s done a fantastic job, I’ve always said that. I respect Chris Hughton did an amazing job here to keep the club in the Premier League for two years. If you see what has happened in the Premier League when people have changed – sometimes they’ve lasted seven games. You can understand why there’s that narrative, why there’s that comment. It’s not a criticism at all, I completely understand it. I can’t listen to that, I’d be going insane, wouldn’t I?”
The season is intriguing for Brighton as Graham Potter replaced Chris Hughton following the conclusion of the 2018/19 season ( despite landing safety position for Brighton ) and has since been handed a contract extension, keeping him at Brighton for the next six years ( despite no premier league safety decided yet ).