Brighton presser: ‘fantastic football club’ - Every word Graham Potter said about Steven Gerrard & Aston Villa

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter was full of praise for the ‘fantastic football club’ that is Aston Villa ahead of their Premier League clash on Saturday afternoon.

The Seagulls boss spent a lot of his pre-match press conference talking up both Villa and Steven Gerrard but for all his compliments, is as determined as ever to get one over on the claret & blue.

Gerrard’s first game and first win as Head Coach at Villa Park came against Brighton back in November. Late goals from Ollie Watkins and Tyrone Mings giving the former Liverpool captain a first match to remember.

And with all the niceties out of the way, Potter’s side will be out for revenge come 3PM on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s every word the Brighton boss had to say about Aston Villa on Thursday.

Looking forward to the contest?

It’s not about Steven Gerrard or Graham Potter it’s about Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion.

That’s the great thing. We’re playing in a league where everybody that you play against is huge quality, the coach’s are all fantastic, they are all here because they have done really well in their careers and Steven is no exception to that.

His career, I don’t have to speak about that, it speaks for itself and now he’s on a really exciting managerial journey so they’ll be coming and wanting to get the points, play well and all that stuff.

It’s a Premier League match against a fantastic football club and we’ll pit our wits against them.

Have their recent struggles surprised you?

Back to my previous answer, apart from the top three who hasn’t struggled in this league? That’s how it is because it’s the best league in the world and it’s really difficult to get points.

So even Aston Villa, even with Steven Gerrard, even with resources - you see last night Tottenham lose to Burnley - it’s the league and it’s really competitive.

I see a lot of what they are doing at Aston Villa, you can see what they are trying to do, you can see the work they are doing, you can see the structure of their team, you can see the performances. On another day they could have won the games they have lost.

As I’ve said before the margins of this competition are this is the highest level of football arguably in the world so by definition that’s not easy to win.

Is the pairing of Aston Villa as a club and Gerrard as a manager a big pull for recruiting players?

Absolutely it’s a great combination, someone with Steven’s profile, Steven’s quality in terms of he’s at the start of his career in terms of coaching, relatively but still had a lot of success. He did fantastic up in Scotland.

Aston Villa is a club with big resources and ambition and history and tradition and culture, it’s a fantastic club - obviously I’m from the Midlands so I know it well.

The combination of the two, you can see the ambition and I’m sure as they go together they will improve and improve and get stronger and stronger.

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