'Brighton have character and quality to stay up': Chris Hughton

Brighton boss Chris Hughton is confident his side will avoid Premier League relegation this season.
Chris Hughton. Picture by PW Sporting PhotographyChris Hughton. Picture by PW Sporting Photography
Chris Hughton. Picture by PW Sporting Photography

Albion were on a concerning slide down the table, having earned just two points from seven games since beating Everton in their last 2018 game, leaving them just three points above the bottom three.

However, relegation fears were eased this weekend after Florin Andone struck late in a 1-0 win against rock bottom Huddersfield.

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A 'relieved' Hughton said: "We've got character and quality to do that [stay up]. Everyone is fighting. It's been a big fright for them.

"Only people in the Premier League know how tough it is every single game. Your Cardiffs and your Southamptons are all fighting really hard and we've got to make sure we fight harder."

Although good results haven't been consistent for Brighton of late, Hughton said he has been pleased to see a sustained run of 'improved performances' from earlier in the season.

He added: "We have played worse and won.

"We can go back to the 1-0 wins against Wolves, West Ham and Newcastle. All three of those games we could have lost on the balance of play. Certainly against Newcastle, where we were fortunate to come away winners.

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"It is just trying to get the balance. The clean sheet is big for us. It is the best platform to push on. The level of our performances have improved in a 4-4-3 but you've got to be scoring goals."

However, Hughton acknowledged Brighton were not at their best in the first half against Huddersfield and warned that they cannot play the same way at Crystal Palace next week.

"What we want in the last ten games is as many games where there is not as much tension going into them," he said.

"We want to avoid as many must win games as possible. Today was good for us.

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"It will be very difficult next week because Palace are a very good team as showed by their recent results. We will need to show a lot more than what we showed first half today."