The manager has changed, the method has been modified, but the recipe for success remains essentially the same.

Albion are one of the pass masters of the Championship under Oscar Garcia.

They are also laying the foundations for another promotion challenge by enjoying more possession than their opponents.

Albion get the ball forward a bit quicker at times than was the case last season under Gus Poyet.

They also press teams higher up the pitch and get more balls into the box but the alterations introduced by Oscar have not been at the expense of the identity established by Poyet.

Albion's passing accuracy stands at 80.2 per cent, according to figures provided by WhoScored.com.

That puts Albion third behind only Watford (81.3) and Queens Park Rangers (80.6).

Albion also lie third in the possession table supplied by the football statistics website on 54.8 per cent.

Only QPR (58.5) and Derby County (54.9) have a greater share of the ball.

Albion's strengths and weaknesses, caculated by WhoScored.com from this season's stats, make interesting reading.

The Seagulls are regarded as strong at counter-attacks, attacking set pieces and attacking down the wings.

There has been recent evidence of all three in the goals scored against Barnsley, Leicester and Middlesbrough.

On the debit side, Albion are viewed as weak in aerial duels and avoiding fouling in dangerous areas.

Topping the chart for most aerial battles won is not, as you might expect Matt Upson, but Rohan Ince.

Albion are going to miss Craig Conway following the conclusion of his loan spell from Cardiff. He leads the assists table on three with Inigo Calderon and is second in the individual ratings on 7.11 behind Upson (7.28) and above Tomasz Kuszczak (7.02).

A lot of Albion supporters would argue that Ince ought to be higher than fifth (6.96).