HUGHTON’S STEERING CLEAR OF DROP ZONE
CHRIS HUGHTON admits he cannot resist studying the Premier League table, even though the season is just four games old.
Hughton’s Brighton side are in 14th place after recording their first win of the campaign last Saturday against West Bromwich. Tonight they make the trip along the south coast to Bournemouth.
The hosts will be aiming to shed the tag of being one of only two teams in the top flight without a point — the other is Crystal Palace. And Hughton is desperate for his newly promoted side to stay outside the bottom three after the next round of fixtures.
‘Although your concentration is not on the table, you look at the table every week, of course you do,’ said the Brighton boss.
‘When does it take significance? I suppose you are looking well into the season, but you are judging it week in and week out.
‘Certainly for us, the most important thing is to make sure we are out of that bottom three. The four games we’ve played, I feel we’ve been right in them. That’s probably the most important thing for me at this moment.’
Eddie Howe says he has been shocked by Bournemouth’s dismal start.
The Cherries have scored just one goal in their opening four league games and the manager has demanded a back- to- basics approach in a bid to kick- start the campaign.
‘We’ve always been very good on the ball and we haven’t quite seen that,’ said Howe. ‘ We need to get that back into our game very quickly.
‘I wouldn’t question the attitude, I would question the performances, but when you work with a group every day you see trends and attitudes and the players haven’t lost that at all.
‘We just haven’t delivered on game day, which is frustrating for them and frustrating for me.’
CHRISTIAN FUCHS suffered a freak eye injury when a training pole flicked into his face. The Leicester full back is seeing a specialist to assess the slight cut sustained when the top of the pole went into his eye socket during a drill on Tuesday. Ben Chilwell could replace him for tomorrow’s trip to Huddersfield.