Lee Peltier insists Cardiff City can keep their heads above the relegation waters with a flood of points in their last three matches.
Tuesday night’s late 1-0 victory for Tottenham over Brighton has left Cardiff three points behind the Seagulls with both clubs now having played the same number of games.
The Bluebirds lost 2-0 to Liverpool on Easter Sunday, but a victory at Fulham on Saturday would draw them level on 34 points with Brighton, who host in-form Newcastle later in the evening. Brighton have failed to score in their last seven games.
Brighton’s last two games are away at Arsenal and at home to Manchester City, while Cardiff host Crystal Palace and then go to Manchester United.
“I definitely think we can get out of it,” said Bluebirds defender Peltier, who was up against his former and home town club on Sunday.
“We’re putting in decent performances so hopefully we can pick up more points.
“We’ve got Crystal Palace and Fulham to look forward to and I think we can go there and get points.
“The manager was pleased with the way we set up against one of the best teams in the world.
“I thought we did all right against them as we limited them a lot. We’ve just got to keep on going.”
Brighton looked likely to snatch a point last night until Spurs’ Christian Eriksen scored a superb goal with just two minutes remaining to transform the relegation picture.
Has Chris Hughton’s team hung on for a point, they would have been four points clear and with a 14-goal advantage in goal difference, it would have meant another point at home to Newcastle would have left Cardiff needing to reach a minimum of 37 points – six more points to stay up.
As it is, Cardiff could now conceivably survive by taking just four more points from their three games – if Brighton lose all three of their games.
Hughton admitted he felt Brighton had banked their precious point against Spurs and said: “There are some games where you think the other team are going to open you up and the longer the game went on they were pushing bodies forward but I thought we were going to get a point.
“We had opportunities to manage the game better at the end and those are the details that are crucial against a team of the quality of Tottenham. The changing room at the moment is very down because of the manner of the defeat.
“We’ve got three games and we have to make sure we get enough points to secure our status in this division. The pressure comes with the territory and we’ll have to deal with it.”
The seven-game stretch without a goal has become an issue for Brighton and Hughton admitted: “We’ve found it difficult in the opposition half and the final third. What we have done is got back to ourselves in terms of resilience.
“We’ve never been big goal-scorers but in whichever way we can, we need to get it somehow and we have an opportunity at home against Newcastle on Saturday.”
