Romaine Sawyers wants victory – and Premier opposition

Romaine Sawyers admits the lure of drawing a Premier League giant will provide Walsall with added motivation against Brighton tonight.

Dean Smith's Saddlers are hunting their fifth win in a row and a second Championship scalp of the season when they welcome the Seagulls to the Banks's in the Capital One Cup second round.

Victory would set up a possible clash with one of the Premier League's big guns, who enter the competition in the next round.

Sawyers said: "Everyone wants to get a Premier League draw – it would be massive for the club if we got one at home, especially from a financial point of view.

"If we could go and perform against Brighton and get into that draw, it would give us a great chance in that respect."

The Saddlers beat Nottingham Forest in a 4-3 thriller to make it this far but have not reached the third round of the competition since 2002.

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Sawyers thinks the prospect of taking on Brighton is one they should relish.

"This is a positive test, like I said before the Forest game," he said. "We can go and make an impression and go and show we can do it against the better teams.

"Nine times out of ten, we do seem to perform better against those teams.

"We did it against Forest, so hopefully the momentum keeps going."

The playmaker thinks the Saddlers have demonstrated they have a "new character" this season in league wins over Rochdale and Coventry.

"Everyone is together," he added. "I'm not saying we didn't have that last year, but we've got a mutual agenda – everyone wants to go in the same direction and everyone is on board.

"Everyone knows what we want and everyone believes in what we want – and we are showing it."

A minute's silence will be held before tonight's game in memory of Matt Grimstone, a member of Brighton's ground staff who was killed in the Shoreham Airshow crash last weekend. Both sets of players will wear black armbands.