Albion midfielder Dale Stephens is happy to sacrifice goals for wins.

Stephens has not scored in the league for nearly two years.

He is not bothered if the famine continues at Everton today - as long as the Seagulls get a result.

Stephens told The Argus: “I’d rather sacrifice myself scoring in order for the team to be solid, in order for us to win 1-0.

“I’d rather sacrifice that every day of the week. It has showed in the period we’ve had. We’ve not thrashed people by scoring four or five goals, most of our results have come by one goal.

“My goalscoring record will suffer for it, but I don’t mind at all.

“I know where I am in my career and where we are as a club - and I think that three points is a much better feeling than not winning and scoring.

“When you win on a Saturday and you know you’ve come under a lot of pressure and you’ve still picked up three points, then when the final whistle goes I think that’s exactly the same feeling as scoring a goal.

“You know how difficult it is to get three points in this division. And you know you are step further to where you want to be.”

Stephens has scored once since Albion were promoted to the Premier League, against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.

He has netted 14 times in total for the club, his last league goal coming at Blackburn in the Championship in 2016.

Stephens has been an important part of Albion’s strong defensive record under Chris Hughton in his shielding role.

Hughton said: “He is hugely important for us, a player that has been here since I’ve been here and has played a lot of games for us.

“Whether we are at home or away, go into a three in midfield or two in midfield, he knows how we play.

“He’s a very important member of the team and, not just Dale, on any concentration on clean sheets it’s also down to wide players prepared to track back, a number ten that is prepared to press. But certainly it’s a role Dale knows very well.”