Roberto De Zerbi tells Brighton stars to forget ultimate target as he explains mentality change and key focus

Brighton and Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi will not allow his players to look too far ahead as they prepare for their FA Cup fifth round clash at Stoke City tonight.

Brighton are eighth in the Premier League and have an excellent chance to progress to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup – if they can beat the Potters, who are a lowly 17th in the Championship.

Stoke however have improved under their manager Alex Neil of late and have won three of their four league matches. De Zerbi would love to get to Wembley in his first season as manager of Brighton and victory would take them to the quarter-final stage, where they would be just 90 minutes away from a Wembley semi-final.

FA Cup glory could be a realistic target for Brighton this season, who have repeatedly shown they are a match for any team on their day. Key players such as Lewis Dunk, Pascal Gross, Kaoru Mitoma and Alexis Mac Allister are at the top of their game and with Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo likely to leave this summer – this is possibly the best chance Albion of silverware Albion have had for a long while.

Brighton will be favourites tonight but De Zerbi points to their penalty shoot-out Carabao Cup loss at Charlton earlier this season as a warning.

“We know very well what happened in the Charlton game. We remember very well,” warned the Italian. “For me the priority is the training session. The FA Cup, the league the Carabao and the friendly games. The right mentality is every time we wear the shirt we have to play 100 per cent. Passion, mentality, attitude. Nothing change for me. I don't want to speak for the trophy. Our target is Stoke and then the other if we win tomorrow. It is too far to speak about the trophy. It is not serious.”