Brighton transfer news: Albion midfielder ‘likely’ to seal summer exit, Tottenham defender ‘already contacted’ over potential transfer

Steven Alzate started at St James’ Park and was one of the few highlights to emerge from a disappointing trip to the north east.

Alzate was included from the start as Yves Bissouma dropped to the bench and Potter said after the match that that Alzate - despite being substituted on 79 minutes - was Brighton‘s ‘best player’ on the day.

Brighton welcome title-chasing Liverpool to the Amex Stadium this Saturday and the Reds - who progressed in the Champions League in midweek after a 2-1 aggregate victory against Inter Milan - will be determined to narrow the six point gap between them and league leaders Man City.

Playing Liverpool is one the toughest challenges in world football but one Alzate is ready for.

“When it’s not going your way in football it feels like nothing will fall for you,” the Colombian international said.

“We’ve got a good group and despite a few losses we’ve still got high spirits in the dressing room.

“Every team will have a tough period and we’re going through ours now, so we need to stay strong and keep believing. We will start getting points again soon.

“Every season you want to demonstrate progress and we showed some of our best form at the start of the season – we need to rediscover that.

“Before the season people outside the club said we should be happy with staying in the league, then after five games they thought we’d be challenging for Europe.

“In the dressing room we’ve always been realistic. We’re confident we can beat that points tally of 41 with 11 games still to play.”

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