Antonio previews Brighton: “I have seen great focus this week”

Antonio Conte doesn’t have to look too long ago or too far away for an example of what Brighton are capable of as we prepare to take on the Seagulls in Saturday’s early kick-off at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (12.30pm).

Turn the clock back a week and Graham Potter’s men produced a fine performance and 2-1 win against Arsenal at the Emirates, halting a run of six without a win in the Premier League. We then capitalised on that result with a 4-0 win at Villa to move three points clear in fourth place.

With seven matches remaining, Antonio told the media at his pre-match press conference on Friday that the team, ‘is ready to fight until the end in this race’ but has warned that we have a job on our hands as we play first this weekend against a team we know well - it's our third meeting with Brighton this year having beaten them in the FA Cup in February and then 2-0 at the Amex in the Premier League a month ago.

“For us, Saturday it will be a really important game because we are going to play against a really strong team,” he said. “We played in the last period twice against them and in both games, we struggled a lot because they were organised, have good players, a good manager.

“The last game they won against Arsenal. I watched the game and they deserved to win. They weren’t lucky, they deserved to win.

“For this reason, in this moment it will be very important not to make big mistakes and try to get three points. The game will be very difficult against Brighton, but we are working very well, the players and my staff are working very well, I have seen great focus this week.”

The win at Villa made it four on the trot and six in our last seven in the Premier League. We’re now three points ahead of Arsenal, who have a game in hand and travel to Southampton on Saturday, before a trip to Chelsea in midweek. Manchester United (played 31, 51 points) take on Norwich on Saturday, West Ham (played 32, 51 points) host Burnley on Sunday.

“I say to you now that the team is ready, ready to fight until the end in this race,” added Antonio. “This race is not easy, it's very important because to finish in the top four would mean a very good result for the club.

“We watched (this week) how important it is to play Champions League, how fascinating these types of games are, and I’m sure there is a great desire in my players to be protagonists in this competition, but we know very well there are other teams who are very strong - Arsenal, United, West Ham, Wolverhampton are in this same race with us, but we want to fight until the end and we will see what happens at the end of the season.”