Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler says working in the Premier League has confirmed his opinion that it is the best league in the world.
Brighton have won three games out of three in the 32-year-old German’s first year in charge against Europa League finalists Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United, who are 15th and 16th in the table.
“The Premier League is known as the best league in the world and this season has confirmed it,” Hurzeler told The Athletic during his press conference for today’s penultimate away game of the campaign at Wolverhampton Wanders.
“It is very competitive. It’s very challenging. You can see what happens, especially with these two teams (Tottenham and United). It’s not easy for them this season in the Premier League, but they are very competitive in Europe. They deserve to be in the final and it shows how strong the Premier League is.
“It shows that every game you have to be on your highest level, to prepare the team in every detail for very small margins. The players have to be individually at the highest level, you need to have good availability during the season.”
Hurzeler believes consistency is the key to success after a season of fluctuations in results and performances for Brighton, combined with injury problems.
“You have seen it in our season, positive and negative,” Hurzeler added. “The most important thing is to be consistent regarding performance, results, availability of the players, building connections.
“If you have consistency, then you can achieve something, but if you don’t have it then you easily get into trouble in this league.”
Tenth-placed Brighton are in the hunt with Bournemouth, Brentford and Fulham to finish eighth, which will probably be good enough to reach the Europa Conference League. They host Premier League champions Liverpool before the last game of the season later this month at Tottenham, which falls four days after Tottenham face United in the Europa League final in Bilbao.
(Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)