Brighton boss Chris Hughton knows it will take a composed display to get the better of rivals Crystal Palace and their manager Roy Hodgson.
The Seagulls travel to Selhurst Park for Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off looking to build on last weekend’s 1-0 home win over bottom club Huddersfield.
It was a hard-earned first Premier League victory since December 29, and one which again put some daylight between the south-coast club and the relegation dogfight.
Palace, meanwhile, are aiming to push for a top-10 finish after victory at Burnley made it just one defeat in the last eight matches for the FA Cup quarter-finalists.
Hughton has nothing but admiration for 71-year-old former England boss Hodgson, who guided the Eagles to safety last season having taken over in September 2017 with the club bottom of the table.
“Roy is someone I know very well,” the Brighton boss said.
“He’s assembled a very good side. To still be doing it at this level, at this age, is exceptional. Credit to him.”
The showdown at Selhurst Park is sure to be another feisty encounter between the two rivals.
Brighton ran out 3-1 winners at home during December, overcoming the dismissal of defender Shane Duffy for pushing his head into Patrick van Aanholt’s as they squared up.
Hughton knows it will take a cool and collected approach to make sure they come away from the trip to south London on the back of another positive result.
“It’s a derby game and one both sets of fans will always look forward to, and one which they don’t want to be on the losing side of,” the Brighton manager said at a press conference.
“I can only speak of our fans – they’ve been excellent all season, I’m sure they’ll make themselves heard.
“We have to give them something to cheer about and put in a performance that not only raises our players, but also raises our fans as well.”
Hughton added: “It’s about cool heads and keeping yourself controlled too – there is always a message to take on board about discipline.
“They are always good and competitive matches, you have to make sure you take the atmosphere on board and not lose our discipline, and that is the way we will have to play.”
Hughton hopes his squad can use the win over Huddersfield as a springboard for a positive end to the campaign.
“What I haven’t seen over the last month or so is a dip in the enthusiasm of the players or a bad feeling around the place,” he said.
“Our group also realise that we’ve also had some very tough matches in that period – we had the (FA) cup games which helped us too. Nobody has been too down, but the win always gives you a lift.”
