Brighton will get by without home fans

LONDON • Brighton manager Graham Potter believes the absence of home advantage will not be a problem for his side, when the Premier League season resumes behind closed doors next Wednesday after a three-month stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Analysts have highlighted that with the 12th man missing, Bundesliga teams no longer enjoy home comforts.

Since the league's resumption last month, hosts have won just 10 out of 46 German league games and that trend could be carried over to the English top flight.

Brighton have five home games left, including visits from top sides Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, with four other away matches to be played.

But, having won just four of their 14 top-flight games at the Amex Stadium before the shutdown, Potter does not feel his 15th-placed side - just two points above the drop zone - are getting the short end of the stick because fans can no longer attend games for the remainder of the season.

"It's not like the Amex was a massive fortress for us before and now we haven't got that any more," he told Sky Sports.

"So we have to play football and we get on with it.

"The hostility of the home crowd in the Premier League is where the advantage is. Certainly, the crowd in the British game get so involved and little moments can change things in the match.

"As an away team, it's difficult when there's 30, 40, 50, 60,000 people at a game. But it's not there, we haven't got the crowd and you just have to play football as well as you can."

However, the Seagulls have allowed season ticket-holders to sign up for cardboard cut-outs of themselves to be displayed in the stands and Potter is happy that supporters can still make their presence felt even if they are not physically at the ground.

"It's hard for a cardboard cut-out to generate the same atmosphere that 30,000 in the Amex can, but it's an opportunity for fans to engage," the 45-year-old said.

"To have real-life supporters would be far better.

"Unless they're hurling abuse at me, in which case I'm happy with the cut-outs."

Potter's men will resume their campaign against ninth-placed Arsenal next Saturday.

REUTERS