Brighton & Hove Albion Fan View: Just champion as Chelsea hit the Amex

There have been many momentous days in my time following Brighton and now we need another one against Chelsea on Saturday.

Everything seems at a low ebb in terms of Brighton at the moment – slipping down the table, one win in 12, a real struggle for goals, nothing happening of note in the transfer window and certainly no sign of the extra striking options we desperately need.

I totally accept that some context needs to be applied and the fact that we are currently not in the relegation zone means the line ‘we are doing better than people thought we would’ is still relevant. But that line is slipping from our grasp at an alarming rate. So context will be applied but the general concern at present is that we are throwing away a wonderful position we got ourselves in.

Chris Hughton has said transfer business will pick up towards the end of the transfer window. I would like to replace the words ‘pick up’ with ‘start’ because, apart from a couple of under-23 players arriving, nothing has happened to strengthen our squad, which is disappointing when the need for strengthening was not addressed in August and most of us wanted that to be rectified as soon as the window opened in January.

The fact that Chelsea are the opponents on Saturday does little to raise the levels of optimism. Chelsea may have been short on goals recently and will be without both Morata and Pedro through suspension but that does not change much for me …. so far we have not taken a single point off the top six and in all honesty I don’t see that changing on Saturday.

But a momentous day could change everything entirely. A win against Chelsea, as unlikely as it seems, would rouse fans, would give the players a lift and spirits would be completely different, particularly if a couple of signings followed next week.

Before kick-off at the Amex they show on the big screens footage of some of the momentous days that I and so many others recall, spanning five decades. Two of the more recent ones would be the first league game at the stadium against Doncaster in August 2011 and the match away to Nottingham Forest in May 2014. Against Doncaster, Will Buckley scored twice late on to earn a 2-1 win for a Brighton side that trailed until the 83^rd minute and then at Forest Leo Ulloa’s last-minute goal secured a place in the play-offs for Oscar Garcia’s side.

What stood out in both those games was the spirit among the players and how the crowd and the team seemed to feed off each other on both occasions. Perhaps somewhere in this Premier League adventure, that has been lost. We have all enjoyed it to a point, but the novelty of coming a close second to much bigger clubs is wearing off.

A huge performance against the odds and a day to remember is just what Brighton – players and fans – need right now. Let’s work together, let’s go big on Saturday and maybe it is possible.

@GriggoHome