Liverpool is a 'free hit' for Graham Potter's Brighton after sublime Tottenham victory

After the bore draw against Fulham last Wednesday night, finally a real positive at the Amex on a cold Sunday night, a 1-0 win against Spurs, and the first home league win of the season.

Credit where credit is due, Graham Potter has taken some sustained criticism over the recent weeks and months over a number of Albion performances and his own selection policy which led to many dubbing him ‘The Tinkerman’.

Well there was no tinkering on Sunday, Potter named his first unchanged Albion team for 11 months, and the team that couldn’t beat Fulham four days earlier delivered an emphatic victory - or as emphatic as a 1-0 win can be.

An observation not a criticism, this was my first game back at the Amex for nearly a year, and by half-time I was worried that not for the first time the Albion would rue their missed chances.

Was 1-0 going to be enough?

I even started counting the clock down at 64 minutes! I had this nagging fear that even Spurs would manage one moment of creativity and nick an equaliser, such has been the Albion roller-coaster ride over the years.

Many outsiders will say that Albion’s win was partly due to an almost embarrassing performance by the visitors, but despite the narrow margin the night was more about how good the Albion were rather than how bad Spurs were.

But as my dear old gran used to say: “One swallow does not a summer make” – in the same way that one home win out of 19 would not represent an acceptable football season for the Albion faithful.

Potter’s men visit the champions Liverpool tongiht for another one of my often mentioned ‘free hits’, but for me the next real barometer is Saturday’s visit to Burnley.

‘Project Potter’ is about taking the Albion to the next level, getting out of that mini league at the bottom of the division, and pushing on to breaking into the top ten.

It was never going to happen overnight, but I hope, even allowing for some changes at Anfield in order to rest players, the manager goes with his strongest 11, subject to injury, at Turf Moor.

It’s obviously a matter of debate, but in my opinion if and when the Albion welcome back Messrs Lamptey, Lallana and Welbeck to the starting line up, that’s when I believe the Albion will field their strongest line up in the club's history.

Unfortunately that won’t happen this weekend, but with back to back home games over the following two weekends, against Villa and Crystal Palace respectively, hopefully that prospect is not that far off.

Finishing on a prediction, no tinkering at Turf Moor please Graham, go with the strongest 11, and I believe we will come back down the M6 with at least a point.