Joel Veltman sends 'annoying' message to Jack Grealish after stifling Aston Villa ace

Brighton's stalemate against Aston Villa extended Albion's unbeaten run to six Premier League matches, with five clean sheets.

Veltman's know how and experience on the right has been a huge part Brighton's fine recent run and the former Ajax man was excellent once again last night against Grealish and co.

Grealish was marked out of the match by Veltman, who joined Brighton with little fanfare from Ajax for a bargain £900,000 last summer.

“I can be an annoying opponent to play against," said the 29-year-old with 29 Dutch caps to his name.

"With players like Grealish, you have to be on him from his first touch – I reckon I did a great job against him.

"I nearly scored my first goal as well, my effort was blocked by the defender and then Emi Martinez pulls off a great save to keep it out – I was already celebrating! I am disappointed as it would have been the winner.”

Brighton are 15th in the league standings and 11 points above the drop zone. Veltman believes Albion's recent upturn and new-found defensive solidity is just reward for the hard work the team put in off the ball.

“We had it at the start of the season where we created chances but couldn't put them away," said Veltman. "I would say there's only been two games this season where we haven’t been better than our opponent.

“If you look at the games against Liverpool and Tottenham we only scored one goal, but our work off the ball has been really good in the last few weeks, and as a result we have kept clean sheets.

“We created more chances against Villa and they will be happier with the point than us.”

The versatility shown by Veltman has impressed head coach Graham Potter. The Dutchman is predominantly a centre half but his composure and his ability in possession allows him to play right back or right wing back.

With regular wing back Tariq Lamptey still struggling with hamstring issues, Veltman has adapted to his new role and also provided an attacking threat along with his defensive know how.

“I thought he played really well," said Potter. “Defended really well, attacked really well. I thought he was helped by the team performance.

“I don’t think it’s one person who can stop someone like Jack and the other players Aston Villa have got.

“I thought it was a really strong team performance in terms of how we defended and how we attacked.

“Our challenge is to maintain that level of performance until the end of the season.”

Brighton are next in action against Crystal Palace on Monday February 22. Lamptey is due to be ready for action once more and Potter will now have a big call to make.