Graham Potter is keen for Brighton to toast their Premier League survival and insisted “anything is possible” when asked if his side could replicate West Ham’s dramatic turnaround.
Burnley’s win over Fulham earlier this week confirmed the Seagulls will remain a top-flight side for a fifth successive season.
Potter has been praised for the style he has introduced at the Amex Stadium but those performances have not always been backed up with results.
Asked if it was important for Brighton to mark their survival, Potter replied: “I think so. Don’t get me wrong, we are not dancing around but I think we can be happy.
“Otherwise what is the point to a certain extent? We can be happy, we can be proud that we can stay stay in the Premier League because a lot of teams can’t do it and don’t do it and the competition is so ferocious.
“We are still frustrated a little bit and we can still improve but at the same time we can be happy to be there again.”
West Ham travel to the south coast on Saturday evening with the visitors still in the hunt for European qualification.
That comes on the back of a difficult 2019/20 campaign which saw the Hammers finish on 39 points – just two more than Brighton have heading into the weekend.
Potter was full of praise for counterpart David Moyes and his roll in the dramatic turnaround in fortunes at the London Stadium and did not rule out his Brighton side following the blueprint next year.
“West Ham have invested a lot of money over a period of time,” he said.
“It is credit to David that he has stabilised things last year and then improved again with a talented group of players.
“It is football so anything is possible but this year we try to focus on trying to finish this season off, having a break and recovery and then going again and trying to improve – that is the key.
“I have such respect for the league and respect for the opposition.
“There are probably six, seven or eight teams but for the rest it (survival) should always be the first point of call, get there and then think what else you can achieve.
“For us, what I try to do is look at the likelihood of us maintaining our performance level, I’m positive and I am excited for the future but always you have to start with the same humility and respect for the Premier League.”
