Adam Lallana has challenged Brighton to match their performance at Southampton over the rest of the season.
The Seagulls moved three points clear of the relegation zone after a crucial 2-1 win at their south-coast rivals.
“It’s a massive three points,” Lallana told the club website. “In the last two or three weeks we have performed to a reasonably high level which would normally be enough to get us more points than we did.
“The difference in the second half compared to last week was that we weren’t passive, we went looking for more goals and we did the dirty part of football when we had too as well. I thought our second-half performance was really professional.
“The challenge now is to sustain the levels in the remaining 10 games, starting against Newcastle on Saturday.”
Lewis Dunk’s towering header put Brighton ahead only for Southampton to equalise through Che Adams.
But Lallana, playing against his former club, had a hand in a superb second-half winner from Leandro Trossard.
Lallana has had a stop-start first season at Brighton but has now completed back-to-back games.
He added: “It’s never easy to go to a new club and make an impact straight away. Since coming back after being ill with Covid-19 I have had five or six weeks of good training and I’m starting to perform at a level I am happy with.
“More importantly the team are playing well and creating chances. We enjoyed Sunday’s game but the focus now is on Newcastle which is another important game for us.”
Saints have now lost 10 of their last 12 matches and do not play again in the Premier League for three weeks.
Next up is the FA Cup quarter-final along the coast at Bournemouth, and manager Ralph Hasenhuttl said: “If we play like this we will have no chance. We must do it much better.
“We will lose a few players to the international break, but we still have time to work on a few things, and this is important for us.”
