Brighton and Hove Albion boss Fabian Hürzeler has urged his side not to underestimate Bournemouth tomorrow (Saturday 23 November).
The Albion head coach said of the hosts tomorrow: “They can play very intense. They run a lot. They have individual quality. They are in good shape.
“For me at the moment, they’re one of the best teams in the league.”
And Albion could not afford to rely on the comeback win against Manchester City to carry them forward.
As the Premier League resumes after the international break, Hürzeler told a press conference: “You have to work to get the momentum. It’s always a new game, no matter if there is a break between the games.
“The game starts from zero and you have to go into the game and influence the things you can: winning personal duels, running more than the opponent and playing more intense than the opponent.
“You can’t say we won against City so the momentum will keep going. It’s about fighting for momentum.
“It’s a new game, a different challenge and a really big challenge because, for me, Bournemouth are one of the strongest teams at the moment.”
The international fixtures have given Hürzeler some difficult decisions to make – in a positive way – with Yankuba Minteh playing well up front for Gambia.
Hürzeler said: “It’s part of the job to make unpopular decisions. Not every player will be happy but decisions are always made for the success of the club. The players need to deserve to play.
“We had players who played before (and) players have come back from injury and that’s really important for the competition.
“I’m really looking forward to every player being back because that produces a hunger of wanting to play and competing against team-mates. With that, the team will grow.”
Brighton are due to kick off at Bournemouth at 3pm tomorrow.
