Brighton defender Dan Burn insists the team will continue to play out from the back

Brighton won’t change their philosophy of playing out from the back despite the increasing threat of being dragged into a relegation fight.

Graham Potter’s men currently sit only two points above the bottom three and face Arsenal on Saturday having failed to win in 2020 before lockdown.

However, defender Dan Burn doesn’t believe there is a need to rip up the gameplan and thinks empty stadiums could actually benefit sides who play good football.

‘We’ve put in some really good performances and could and should be higher in the league,’ says Burn.

‘To turn around now and completely change would undo all the hard work we’ve put in. We believe in the way we are playing.

‘If any manager starts to veer away from their philosophy, they’re not staying true to themselves. I’m sure we’ll try to build from the back, be controlled in possession and try to score that way.

‘I think it (absence of fans) will suit a lot of teams. When you’re playing out from the back, the crowd can affect that and make players nervy. So you might see teams doing it more because that same pressure isn’t there.’

Burn converted from a centre back to left back and has played 25 out of Brighton’s 29 games

Brighton face a daunting fixture list with Arsenal, Leicester, Manchester United their first three opponents, followed by Liverpool a week later. On the plus side, they did beat Arsenal 2-1 at The Emirates in December.

At 6ft7ins, Burn is the tallest left-back in the Premier League having converted from centre-half and has played in 25 of Brighton’s 29 games this season..

He acknowledges returning to training brought some of his own challenges as he got used to the ball again.

He says the squad believe in their philosophy despite the looming threat of relegation 

‘I haven’t got a lot of footballs knocking about in my back garden so I’d literally barely touched a football for nine weeks.

‘To go back and get in the groove, I don’t think you realise it takes a while to get yourself ticking over again.

‘I was a bit slow the first couple of days passing the balls around but soon got back into the swing of it. We have had a good bit of contact training and been playing a lot of in-house games to prepare us. We will sort of be as ready as we possibly can.’

Brighton will be able to watch Arsenal’s game at Manchester City on Wednesday before they play them at The Amex. ‘We can study them and they’ll not be able to do that so that could help us out,’ added Burn.