Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler feels the responsibility of rewarding fans with a positive result against bitter rivals Crystal Palace.
The 32-year-old is keen to make amends for a 3-1 defeat in the first meeting at the Amex Stadium in December, as the teams clash for the 20th time in the Premier League at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
“I can feel it, and I think it’s also our responsibility to give them something back,” said Hurzeler during his press conference this morning for the visit to Palace. “So, in the first derby we were not at our highest level, didn’t give the fans what they deserve, and I think tomorrow it’s an opportunity for us and also our responsibility to make it better than the last.”
Hurzeler is in danger of becoming the first Brighton boss since Charlie Webb in 1932 to lose both league fixtures against Palace in the same season. The sides were in Division Three South when Palace completed a double in the space of a week 93 years ago, winning 5-0 at home and 2-1 away from home.
Hurzeler says the players have responded “quite well” to the double whammy of Wednesday’s 3-0 home defeat by Aston Villa after last Saturday’s home exit from the quarter-final stage of the FA Cup on penalties against Nottingham Forest.
“It’s always about how you come back and we have to focus on the things that makes us strong, to understand why we are in this situation, to understand what it needs to win games and it’s about small margins, about details,” he added.
Brighton remain without long-term injury victims Georginio Rutter (ankle), Adam Webster (hamstring), Joel Veltman (foot), Tariq Lamptey (ankle), Jason Steele (shoulder), Ferdi Kadioglu (toe), James Milner (hamstring) and Igor Julio (hamstring). They are eighth in the table in the tight race to qualify for Europe, seven points and four places above Palace.
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