Chris Hughton hopes Brighton can replicate last season's ‘breakthrough’ Arsenal win

The Seagulls have lost their last three matches and find themselves in need of some festive cheer

Monday 24 December 2018 08:08 EST
Comments
Premier League weekend round-up

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Chris Hughton is hoping for a repeat of Brighton’s “breakthrough” when Arsenal return to the Amex Stadium on Boxing Day.

Brighton ended their wait for a victory over one of the Premier League‘s top six last season when goals from Lewis Dunk and Glenn Murray secured a 2-1 home victory over the Gunners in March.

Now in their second Premier League campaign, the Seagulls have lost their last three matches and find themselves in need of some festive cheer.

And Hughton hopes the memories of that victory, a crucial one in their successful survival bid, will inspire his side.

“Having won promotion the summer beforehand, one thing we were very conscious of was how difficult it is to play against the top six,” said the Seagulls boss at his pre-match press conference.

“It was a breakthrough for us. You look at pivotal moments in any season – one was getting our first win at the Amex, then our first away win and then our first win against a top-six team.

“We’d found it difficult – we played Manchester City on the first day of the season and that was a very tough game, and Chelsea was a difficult game as well.

“The Arsenal win was a fairly significant moment for us and one that we deserved.”

Defeats to Burnley, Chelsea and Bournemouth may have dented confidence on the south coast but Hughton has backed his side to come through their testing schedule.

“When you’re Brighton in the Premier League, only in your second season, every period for us is a tricky period. Every game that we play is a difficult game,” he added.

“We’re going through a period of games in a short period of time, and we’ll have to play at a level to get something from the matches.

“For any tough period that you think you’re going through, it’s exactly the same for a huge number of other teams.

“We just need to make sure that we prepare ourselves in the best way we can and endeavour to get as many points as we can.”

Shane Duffy returns from suspension against the Gunners but fellow centre-half Dunk serves a one-match ban.

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in