Brighton star says Saturday is a chance to put things right at home

The Seagulls go into the game with some much-needed confidence after drawing 0-0 at Wolves at the weekend and then producing a spirited performance before suffering a late 1-0 defeat at Tottenham on Tuesday.

Brighton are three points clear of third-from-bottom Cardiff and the relegation zone with three games remaining each.

Albion host Newcastle on Saturday before finishing their season with games against Arsenal and Manchester City. Cardiff are away to Fulham on Saturday and then face Crystal Palace and Manchester United.

Duffy says Brighton have to go into Saturday’s game with confidence ahead of their tricky final two matches: “I know it’s two tough fixtures to finish but we believe we can get results. If we perform like this (at Tottenham) we know we can frustrate teams and on another night we might have won the game.

“The next game is always the biggest game because it’s next. It’s Newcastle at home and it’s not a top-six team so we’ve got to be confident.

“We’ve been a little bit poor at home recently so it’s a chance to put everything right and we’re all excited about it.”

Asked if Brighton are surprised to be battling for survival at this stage of the season after being comfortable in mid-table at the halfway stage, Duffy said: “The table never lies and that’s the truth and reality. In a way it’s our own fault.

“We got into a bad routine where we were picking up bad results. It wasn’t through the lack of trying but things weren’t going our way and we weren’t playing particularly well.

“We’ve had a lot of meetings, a lot of talks, a lot of reality checks and have got back to basics. You could see that in the last two games.We’re in this situation and have got to deal with it. That’s the bottom line and it’s one we’ve got to embrace.

“Hopefully we can come back to these places next year as it’s where we want to be. Hopefully if we win on Saturday we deserve to be in this league.”

Reflecting on Tuesday’s defeat to Tottenham, Duffy said: “It’s hard to take. We put so much effort in and got nothing out of it.

“Everyone gave everything and that’s the minimum required. Everyone left everything out there and you can’t ask for anything more.

“It wasn’t our night but we’ve just got to take the good things from the night and we go into a huge one on Saturday.”

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