Brighton boss Graham Potter believes his side are coming up against title contenders when they visit Tottenham on Sunday.
The Seagulls head to north London to take on a Spurs side who are the division’s top scorers going into this weekend’s action.
And Brighton’s plight could be made harder by Jose Mourinho’s backlash to a disappointing defeat in the Europa League on Thursday, where Spurs went down 1-0 at Royal Antwerp.
That is likely to trigger a response, which is not good news for Potter, who ranks Tottenham as the best side he has seen this season.
“From what I’ve seen they are as good as anybody,” he said. “Probably the best team I’ve seen from my analysis. Really balanced in attack and defence. Physicality. Reactions really good. They look a really impressive outfit.
“After doing some analysis of Tottenham, they are fantastic, absolutely. You are looking at top, top players individually and then they have got that amazing understanding of running in behind or dropping into space which top players have.
“Credit to Tottenham and Jose, they are performing at a really high level.”
Despite Spurs’ trip to Belgium in the week and Mourinho using players he did not necessarily want to, Potter says Brighton have no advantage.
“They have got a big squad that can deal with those two games,” he added. “So I don’t see it as an advantage.
“Clubs like Tottenham are a different level to us, they have a different playing squad, different budget, different goals, they are fighting for different prizes and as a result they have got the resources to deal with that challenge.
“I don’t see it as an advantage.”
Potter looks likely to use Danny Welbeck in north London after the former Arsenal man had a good week’s training.
He was an unused substitute in Monday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom, but will feature in the Seagulls’ plans.
“He has been good, he has been good since he came in. Nothing has really changed since last time I spoke about him. He has come from his situation at Watford, not too much team training, we put him on the bench,” Potter said.
“On reflection I could have used him for the last bit of the game, but took another decision. He will be involved.”
