Hughton’s aiming high
BRIGHTON boss Chris Hughton will approach today’s game at struggling West Brom as if he was taking his team to the Etihad.
He insists the Baggies’ desperation to end run of 20 games without a Premier League win will make them as dangerous as Manchester City.
“We have to be very guarded,” he said.
“You look at their team on paper and they have got a very good side. It will be a difficult game for us, no different than if we were going there and they had won the last three or four games.”
Hughton’s Seagulls are 12th on 23 points, well over halfway to the 40 that usually guarantee Premier League survival.
But they are also only three points above the drop zone and Hughton fears the traditional mark might not be enough, saying: “We never had any targets at the start of the season and there’s still no targets.
“The 40-point mark is one we can all associate with and that’s not a bad one to think about.
“But the moment you start relying on things like that is when you can be in trouble.
“You could lose three games on the spin and be in the bottom three.
“That’s how tight everything is.”