Man City vs Brighton: Former Everton defender Shane Duffy on why he still wants to beat City

Brighton defender Shane Duffy, a former Everton defender, has had messages from both the red and blue halves of Merseyside in advance of Sunday’s home match against Manchester City, when a victory or draw for the Seagulls could give Liverpool the Premier League title.

But Brighton’s player of the season wants to win for himself and his teammates - and a possible place in football folklore.

“As players we have watched the Champions League in midweek and probably nearly everyone in the world was watching it,” he said. “We know everyone is going to watching our game on Sunday too and as players you want to impress against the best players in the world and show you can play at this level. I’m sure everyone will want to win the game and then that’s a story for history.

“I've had a few Everton fans texting me, saying ‘Let [City] through! But we can't really get sucked into what favours we might do. We're footballers, we do our job. We want to beat one of the best teams in the world. That would give us a big buzz.”

After watching arch-rivals Crystal Palace’s 3-2 victory at Cardiff on Saturday preserve their Premier League status, Duffy and company looked more relaxed than they had for many weeks in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Arsenal, a result that ended the London club’s chances of a top-four finish. Duffy hopes that increased confidence will continue and that they can disappoint another top-six side.

“It was a relief and against Arsenal it felt like we played a lot better than the last few months," he said. "Hopefully we can have a similar performance. Everyone is realistic too, we know we are playing Man City and we’re not going to be as free-flowing and attacking. But hopefully in our moments we can attack and go forward.”

But there will certainly be plenty of backs-to-the-wall defending for Duffy and central defensive partner Lewis Dunk, who will both command interest this summer from wealthier clubs in need of strengthening at the back. But Duffy said: “I really love being at this club and I think it’s the best place for me to keep progressing as a player. Dunky is a big player at this club and an England international and he has had a good season as well but I think he is very comfortable and happy here and progressing as well so I hope for the club that he will stay.”

Duffy, in fact, is Brighton’s second-highest scorer this season with five goals and went closest to scoring against City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley last month but he does not expect to emulate Vincent Kompany’s spectacular winner for City in midweek.

“I won't be doing that!” he said. “It'll be just constant pressure after pressure. It's a very difficult game and as players you just hope it doesn't come off for them and we have a game where it happens for us. We are underdogs but all the players are excited to spoil the party. We want to do this club proud and win these three points."