Chris Hughton: 'Swansea City game is massive for Brighton & Hove Albion'

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton has acknowledged the importance of his side's "massive" showdown with fellow relegation battlers Swansea City.

The Seagulls sit 14th in the Premier League table following a run of one win in eight top-flight games, just a point better off than a revived Swansea side.

In a tight race for survival that sees just three points separate Newcastle United in 13th and Stoke City in 19th, Hughton admits that Brighton must use home advantage to their favour on Saturday afternoon and pick up a positive result.

"We are playing a team in very good form at the moment and where we are in the division, these are certainly the games you don't want to lose," he told reporters at his pre-match presser. "It's certainly a massive game, until the next massive game, that's how it is at the moment.

"We are in good form though and will need to use that good form and home advantage to give ourselves the best possible chance of getting the result. At this stage of the season, these games become more meaningful. It has stemmed from a change of manager but if you spoke to him, he would talk about what the players have given him.

"Generally the mood is changed by winning games and if I go back to the games they have played, the win at home to Liverpool has spurred them on to get other results. He is a very good manager, we know him well from our exploits in the Championship. He is a very experienced manager and at the moment he is getting the best out of them."

Brighton set up an FA Cup quarter-final meeting with Manchester United last weekend by overcoming Coventry City 3-1 at the Amex Stadium.