Win sets us up nicely for Chelsea trip – Hughton

Brighton and Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton believes his side can go into a Boxing Day clash with Chelsea brimming with confidence, after ending their winless run against Watford on Saturday.

The Seagulls had not won in seven games before the visit of Marco Silva’s side, but Pascal Gross’ second-half strike was enough to secure a slender 1-0 victory at the Amex Stadium.

Brighton were comfortably the more dominant side and deserved to secure all three points, which Hughton feels sets them up perfectly for the visit to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

“It’s one we needed and we’ve got Chelsea on Boxing Day and many won’t fancy us,” he told Sky Sports.

“It’s important to pick up something today so it allows you to go in with more confidence.

While Hughton was pleased with his side’s return to winning ways, he did concede he would have liked the scoreline to better reflect his side’s superiority.

 that winning feeling!#BHAFC  pic.twitter.com/oHzkNFZLAN

— Brighton & Hove Albion  (@OfficialBHAFC) 23 December 2017

He added: “The only thing we need to do is to not apply more pressure on ourselves. It was worthy of more than 1-0 but until that goal goes in you’re under pressure.

“We want to take these games on a little bit. They are capable of scoring one or two goals so you don’t want to be holding on and I don’t think we were were. It was a good all-round performance.”