Chris Hughton
Image by: Paul Hazlewood
PUBLISHED
08:00 29th February 2016
by James Hilsum
Albion's manager is keen to cement a place in the top six.
We are working as hard as we can to win every game and I do think the gap between ourselves and seventh is an important one."
Chris Hughton
Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton believes it is vital to maintain a healthy gap between his side and seventh place going into tonight’s match against Leeds United at the Amex.Chris Hughton
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Albion will move 11 points clear of Cardiff City with a victory and Hughton admits this is the first priority before thoughts turn to making a challenge for automatic promotion.
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He said, “We are working as hard as we can to win every game and I do think the gap between ourselves and seventh is an important one.
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“What we have above us at the moment are three very good teams. We have to play two of them in Middlesbrough and Burnley.
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“But we’ll work as hard as we can to try and get as many points as possible.”The Albion boss believes that the returning players to the squad could be like new signings, which will be crucial heading into the business end of the campaign.
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“You try to have two players for every position. Amongst that, you’re going to get injuries, and this group of lads have coped with injuries that were quite substantial and longer-term.
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“I hope it works in our favour. You can still only put 11 players on the pitch and those 11 are trying to perform as well as possible.
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“What it does give us is competition and we hope it gives us a stronger bench, which makes a difference.”
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Hughton is confident the side will be heading into tonight’s game in fine spirits following a 4-0 win over Bristol City.
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“You’re always affected by your last result and we said that after the Cardiff game, we wanted to get into the next game as quickly as possible.
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“We were very pleased that we only had three days to wait for the Bristol game and it was a very good result and a very good performance by us.“We’ve managed to pick up our home form again after the disappointing period with those Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Wolves games.
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“We’ll need that because Leeds are a very good and competitive side.
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“They’ve got a good balance of experience, particularly in central midfield, and have some good quality young players. They’ll look to come and win the game.”
[h=3]ALBION V LEEDS UNITED
[/h]MONDAY 29TH FEBRUARY, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY **
[/h]TUESDAY 8TH MARCH, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
[h=3]ALBION V READING
[/h]TUESDAY 16TH MARCH, KICK-OFF 7.45PM
Original article