The club’s chairman Tony Bloom was alarmed at a loss of form that plunged Brighton into the relegation dogfightChris Hughton has rarely been tempted to overplay his hand and, speaking to a small huddle of journalists at the end of December, he was at pains to make sure nobody else got ahead of themselves. Brighton had deservedly beaten Everton 1-0 and were 11 points clear of the relegation zone, a victory away from the top half, but their manager felt cautious. “We’re at a level where we can’t afford to look upwards,” he said. “It would be nice, at some stage, to be thinking differently but in our progression I think we still need to [look at it] that way.”The problem for Hughton was that his paymasters were less inclined to. There had been murmurings on Sunday afternoon, before he oversaw the match against Manchester City, that his head might be on the block and, while the timing of Brighton’s announcement was brisk, the fact of his dismissal was not a shock. Creditable showings against Arsenal and Tottenham in recent weeks, as well as a narrow FA Cup semi-final defeat by City, could not mask that their form since overcoming Marco Silva’s side had largely been appalling; Brighton had nosedived and, although nobody had demanded they threaten the leading lights, there was a growing sense Hughton’s natural conservatism was holding them back. Related: Brighton target Swansea's Graham Potter after sacking Chris Hughton Related: The Dozen: the final weekend’s best Premier League photos Continue readingreadfullarticle
