Brighton and Hove Albion manager Graham Potter admits luck is a key ingredient for victory over Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United

After claiming a 1-0 victory at Elland Road in January, Brighton were again victorious at the reverse fixture at the Amex in May when an early penalty, conceded by Gjanni Alioski for a careless foul on Danny Wellbeck, gave the Seagulls a headstart before dominating a lacklustre Leeds side.

Wellbeck doubled the home team’s advantage with eleven minutes remaining to seal an emphatic win for Potter’s men.

The absence of key players Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha, combined with poor performances by those that did feature, meant that the Leeds team that Brighton faced were a shadow of the side that had gone unbeaten in the six previous games.

When speaking to the press on Thursday afternoon, Potter looked back on the encounter and recognised the equal parts played by Leeds’ weaknesses and his own side’s strengths in the outcome.

“Some days you have a good day and the opponent doesn't,” Potter said.

“They missed a couple of players, if we're being fair to them.

“Goals can help in a game. We scored at a good time, relatively early and Danny scored at the end to finish it off. But it was 1-0 until then, quite tight.

“That was one of our good performances last season. There's no denying that.”

The win took Brighton from 17th place up to 14th, while the Whites dropped from ninth to tenth place in the Premier League table.

The shoe is on the other foot this time around, with 17th-place Leeds seeking points from the ninth-place Seagulls to haul themselves out of the bottom of the table.

Brighton, meanwhile, are focussed on finding form again after a loss to struggling Aston Villa and a draw against bottom-place Newcastle. But it won’t be easy to get a result, according to Potter.

“You need to play well and have a bit of luck to beat Leeds United, ” he said.

“They make it really difficult for you.”

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