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Liverpool news: Brighton manager Chris Hughton anxious over Anfield fixture
CHRIS HUGHTON admits the prospect of facing Liverpool away fills him with a little more apprehension than most other road trips.
Brighton’s Chris Hughton previews Liverpool clash
Jurgen Klopp has brought the fear factor back to Anfield. Last year his rampant Reds were the only top-flight side not to lose a league game at home and they also had the second best defensive record on their own patch.
Brighton boss Hughton said: “These are the sort of places that you know if you don’t get it right then you can get beat big.
“As a manager that’s always the one that you want to avoid. And if I looked at last season, home and away, we were always in the game and we never took what you would regard as that real heavy, heavy defeat last season.
“So it’s in some ways maybe a more nervous one because you know that as that game is progressing that you have to have a team that is on top of it all of the time.
These are the sort of places that you know if you don’t get it right then you can get beat big
“Other places you might get away with somebody not tracking somebody or somebody being out of position, with the likes of Liverpool you can do everything right for 15 to 20 minutes and in a moment they score.
“The feeling is different and I am not someone that suffers big nerves before a game.
“If apprehension is the right word then, yes, the you play your Citys away and Tottenhams and Liverpools away then yes, a little more apprehension.”
Though he admits the focus of Brighton’s work will be defensive Hughton has urged his side to make sure they are a threat at Liverpool too.
Veteran striker Glenn Murray will spearhead their attack and was singled out for praise by Hughton after he scored and shone in Brighton’s memorable win against Manchester United last week.
Murray, 34, continues to defy the doubters and deliver at the top level and Hughton said: “The reason he does it is because he has a huge, huge desire to want to do it.
“Glenn reminds me very much of the professional who wants to play as long as possible.
“We have provided him with the platform to do it but it is self driven.
“When you looked at his performance on Sunday it was a performance where you wouldn’t even think about his age.”