Brighton manager Chris Hughton says that he does not expect an easy match against Blackburn Rovers despite the former Premier League outfit being distracted by their commitments in the FA Cup. Blackburn managed to a goalless draw against Liverpool in the sixth round of the FA Cup.
This retains the hope of reaching Wembley this season. The replay will be at Ewood Park and Blackburn are likely to put all their efforts into winning this tie. This is unlikely to result in an easy match forBrighton this week according to Hughton, who has seen his team get only one win in the last five matches.
This poor run of form has all but ended any hopes of reaching the play-offs. Even a victory against Blackburn is unlikely to lift the hopes given that they are already almost 20 points behind the play-off places. It is about pride and prestige from now till the end of the season, as Brighton will also not be distracted by the relegation spots. Hughton also says that Blackburn will also be looking to finish as high as possible even though they do not have any promotion hopes for this season. Hughton came as the replacement for Sami Hyypia at the start of 2014 and he has been able to avoid relegation.
“Irrespective of the fact that they are middle of the table, they will still want to finish as high as possible.They have got a break after this game, then a quarter-final replay and I would presume places are up for grabs.They’ve got a good squad so they’ll want to play as well as possible and I would think everybody that plays will want to stake a claim to play in that big game. So I don’t expect them to ease up. I expect it to be as tough as any game at this stage,” said Hughton.