Albion 0, Burnley 0

Albion are a whisker away from extricating themselves from the heavily populated fight for Premier League survival.

The worry is they are running out of realistic opportunities to gain the home wins which will be crucial to staying out of the bottom three.

Their record at the Amex is not bad. Only Manchester City and Liverpool have beaten them.

But 11 points from nine games is not good enough as a platform for safety.

Not when Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester United all visit in the second half of the season.

Home draws are hurting Albion badly. A fifth against Burnley, to accompany those against Everton, Southampton, Stoke and Crystal Palace, was scant reward for a much-improved performance which warranted all three points against the side currently breaking up the Big Six domination.

The table reveals how costly the spate of stalemates is proving to be.

Converting two of the five draws into victories would have Albion comfortably placed inside the top ten with Saturday's out-of-form visitors Watford.

The other home games that remain, against Bournemouth, West Ham, Swansea, Leicester and Huddersfield, are going to be vital.

Albion have already won twice away, which is unusually good for a promoted team at this stage. It is at the Amex - where they have not won since September - that the fate of Chris Hughton's side is likely to be decided.

Hughton (below right) said: "We are playing against better opposition. That's what I have to keep stressing. I'd be more disappointed if we hadn't got some of the results away from home, because that's levelled it a little bit.

The Argus: "But we have got to find a way of winning the games here and this was one of them. As good as Burnley are - and you can see at first hand why they are where they are, very well organised, can go back to front, can keep the ball in the final third - on the balance of play it's a game we lost out on."

Landing a striker in January who can run in behind and stretch defences - after missing out on one in the summer - could make all the difference.

Albion are too easy for Premier League defences to deal with. They have gone six-and-a-third games now without a goal from open play.

It is difficult to see them scoring much, other than from a set piece or mistake by their opponents.

Burnley obliged in this respect when James Tarkowski brought down Glenn Murray in a clumsy tangle of legs inside the box.

Murray, losing his footing slightly on his run-up, put the penalty straight down the middle and over the bar.

He is usually dependable from the spot. That is how the only goal came in the last six games, against Liverpool, along with the third which clinched the convincing win at West Ham.

Albion should have been awarded another penalty when Tarkowski elbowed Murray in the ribs but it was missed by referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistants.

The Argus: The Seagulls are due some luck. Anthony Knockaert (above) volleyed a Pascal Gross cross against a post and Lewis Dunk's header from a corner was nodded off the line by Phil Bardsley in a first half display among the best all season.

The danger of paying the price felt omnipresent, especially as Burnley have turned sitting in and nicking games into an art form.

Dale Stephens cleared a second half header from a Tarkowski header off the line to prevent Albion conceding from a corner yet again.

Mathew Ryan also denied ex-Seagull Chris Wood his sixth goal in as many starts against his former club when Dunk played him onside.

Hughton said: "I wanted, a better level of performance, because that's the only thing that gives us a chance of getting points.

"In recent games that has dipped, which has been disappointing, but we started well. We needed to. I think it was always going to be a close game. Burnley don't have too many games that are not close affairs.

"A lot of the games they have won they have won 1-0, so we knew it would be close. We needed to score a goal in our good period of the game.

"The positives are a clean sheet, staying in there in the difficult part we had in the second half when Maty made a good save, but for 70 per cent of the game we were good value to have won."

Watford have only a point from their last four games, the same as Albion. The teams are even on current form but the Seagulls could do with more than another even scoreline to make the turkey taste that bit more succulent.