Dean Smith admits that Saturday’s trip to The Amex Stadium will be a tough one but believes his side are good enough to be the first team to come away from Brighton and Hove Albion with the points this season. Last year’s Play-Off Semi-Finalists have won both their home games 3-0 this campaign, the same scoreline they beat The Bees by last February, but Dean feels his team can be the ones to end that run.

“It will be a tough game on Saturday,” said Dean, speaking to Bees Player earlier this afternoon. “They were very unfortunate to miss out on the last game of last season after a fantastic season. I know Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood and they have a very good squad of players there. They are strong and organised and it will be a tough game. I watched them play Nottingham Forest and they beat them 3-0 and they beat Rotherham United 3-0. It is quite daunting that they have played two home games and won both of them 3-0. We will give them a lot of respect but we don’t fear them and we are more than capable of competing and giving them a really good game. We didn’t perform well there last season but we had a lot of injury problems at that time. We will be going there with a near enough full squad and thoughts won’t be on last year, they will be on this year. We have got new players in our building and they have got new ones in theirs so it will be a good game.”

The Sky Bet Championship had a break from fixtures last weekend as 2018 World Cup qualification began. Dean was happy to have a weekend without games as it allowed him to get some hard work in on the training ground but it also allowed key players a chance to recover from niggling injuries picked up during the intense opening to the season.

“We worked really hard over the international break, had the weekend off to recharge the batteries, and spend some time with the families,” said Dean. “Now the players are really looking forward to the six games before the next break. Ryan Woods felt his thigh in the Sheffield Wednesday game and Nico Yennaris had a hip problem but they have come through that now and they are fully training.  Alan McCormack is fully training and Yoann Barbet is going to play for the B Team tonight to get some minutes. With the exception of Tom Field who is feeling his groin from a B Team game we are fully fit.”

Dean’s squad has been boosted in the last week with the arrival of young left-back Rico Henry from Walsall and the loan signing of Crystal Palace winger Sullay Kaikai. The Bees’ Head Coach was pleased to get the two players in ahead of the transfer window closing and said they have settled in well to life at Griffin Park.

“Sullay and Rico are both young lads and they are gaining experience just by being around the players,” said Dean. “Rico is injured so he has been in the treatment room but he is having lunch with the players and mixing in. Sullay has mixed in really well and he has been impressive in training so far. I am pleased with those acquisitions and hopefully in the long run they can prove to be really good signings.”