Sami Hyypia says he is excited and motivated by the expectations surrounding Albion.

The former Liverpool defender is trying to steer the Seagulls into the top flight of English football for the first time since 1979.

And he is unfazed by the high hopes of fans after Albion’s top six finishes in the Championship in the last two seasons under Gus Poyet and Oscar Garcia.

Hyypia, who takes his new-look team to Ipswich tonight, told The Argus: “It’s not really affecting me. As a player I could do my job whether the pressure or expectations were there or not.

“As a manager as well I can understand and I know the fans every year have expectations of how the club will do. I think that makes thing more exciting. When the expectations are there you maybe make more effort to match the expectations.

“You cannot take the expectations as an extra pressure, because that would be foolish. I have expectations and targets but I keep them to myself. I am ambitious and the expectations for me make the pressure for me to do my job as well as possible.”

Albion chairman Tony Bloom revealed during the international break that he believes the squad has the potential to get promoted following the club’s hectic transfer business last month.

Hyypia said: “I’m quite happy with the squad that we have at the moment. I can’t moan about things but to have that success many small details will affect that.

“When all those small details go against you then probably that’s not going to happen but I’m not a big believer in luck.

“I think you force luck to be on your side by how you do your work, how you train.”