It was the perfect way to begin the campaign given they ended the last one in ninth, the highest position in their entire history, and came despite the loss of central midfielder Yves Bissouma to Tottenham and defender Marc Cucurella to Chelsea for a combined £87.5m.

Those departures, coming after highly-respected director of football Dan Ashworth had been placed on gardening leave ahead of him taking up a similar role at Newcastle, might have threatened instability at what is acknowledged to be one of the Premier League's most stable clubs.

But Potter gave no sense of that as he reflected on Brighton's first ever win at Old Trafford, coming just three months after Brighton condemned Manchester United to an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at the Amex Stadium.

"Losing the players we have does have an impact but inside, the club is quite calm," said Potter.

"You do have to scratch your head because the clubs who bought Yves Bissouma and Marc Cucurella valued them at quite a high price, which suggests they are good players. And you need good players to win matches in the Premier League because it is tough.

"But I always think the collective idea is more important than any individual."

The issue for Brighton, as it is for every similar-sized club, is how to keep moving forward in a league where six clubs have so much finance and others, like Newcastle, can call on a huge supporter base in addition to fresh investment from Saudi Arabia.

Brighton may have an excellent, modern stadium but it is in the bottom third of the Premier League capacity wise. They have invested £60m in a fantastic training ground at Lancing, which is an attraction to potential new signings.

However, as has been the case this summer, they are at risk of clubs with bigger budgets coming after their players, which puts a focus on getting their recruitment right.

"You have to try to make progress every day and not look too much at the bigger picture," said Potter. "I have a fantastic group of players here, who have ambition and desire and want to move forward.

"They give everything every day and I try to help them improve.

"It is not too easy to lose players but we understand why we have and how the fees can help the club progress.

"A club like us has to hold two positions; fight every day for the points because it is very tough, and have ambition and believe you can win and try to challenge."