Stephens: We're on track to have a good month

Brighton ended January with a 1-1 draw at Southampton and followed it up with a 3-1 victory at home to West Ham on Saturday.

The Seagulls face Stoke on Saturday and then Swansea at the end of the month and Stephens said: “We know it’s a big month for us, playing against the teams in and around us.

“It’s a big February, we knew that at the start of it and to win against West Ham and pick up a point in midweek, we’re on track to have a good month.”

On Saturday’s win, Stephens said: “We thought we could have played better first half. To be fair, (Javier) Hernandez scored a good goal but we were disappointed to concede in the first half to go in level. But I thought we played very well in the second half and thoroughly deserved the three points.

“It was important we built on Jose’s goal. We scored another one and could have scored more and that’s the most encouraging thing about today’s performance.

“If we can do that from now until the end of the season, we’ll give ourselves a fighting chance and we’re still fully confident we can do that.”