Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi has revealed that his team were fighting for respect against Aston Villa.

The Italian admitted that recent poor results have left his team feeling as though they were not doing themselves justice on the pitch.

Joao Pedro managed to net a late goal to give his team a valuable 1-0 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.

Post-game, boss De Zerbi said: “I am proud because we played a great game against one of the best teams in the Premier League.

“They are fourth in the table.

“Playing against the team of Unai Emery is very tough.

“We played a good game, we played well, we deserved to win, we could score more.

“When you lose at Bournemouth, when you are making these bad results, after that you have to show the pride, the attitude.

“I think we showed that today."

De Zerbi added: “I spoke about that (game at Villa Park, which Brighton lost 6-1) in the meeting this morning."