Graham Potter has praised Joel Veltman’s defending against Aston Villa.

Bur he also underlined the help the former Ajax man enjoyed from colleagues as they kept the visitors quiet.

Veltman turned in an expert marking job on Jack Grealish, who has caused plenty of problems against the Seagulls in the past.

Head coach Potter said: “I thought he played really well.

“Defended really well, attacked really well.

“I thought we he was helped by the team performance.

“I don’t think it’s one person who can stop someone like Jack and the other players Aston Villa have got.

“I thought it was a really strong team performance in terms of how we defended and how we attacked.

“Our challenge is to maintain that level of performance until the end of the season.”

OUR PLAYER RATINGS FROM ALBION V ASTON VILLA

GREALISH APPLAUDS ALBION DISPLAY

Stats from whoscored.com showed Grealish failed to play a “key pass” in a match for the first time this season.

He played four such passes in each of Villa two previous games, against Arsenal and West Ham, and has come up with as many eight in a match this season.

Grealish was guilty of five instances of “bad control”, the most he has had in a match this term.

He was fouled four times, which is not a seasonal low but is below the norm.

That is not necessarily good or bad. The team who fouled him the fewest times – Liverpool (once) – ended up conceding seven goals.

He committed three fouls himself at the Amex, the most in any game since a defeat to Leicester in October.