Keith Andrews has called on Albion to keep hold of Liam Bridcutt for the rest of the season.

But he admits the situation could be out of their hands.

Bridcutt makes his 150th appearance for the Seagulls at Blackpool tomorrow, with his old boss Gus Poyet at Sunderland and other Premier League strugglers poised to pounce once the January transfer window opens.

Fellow midfielder Andrews told The Argus: “It’s one of those things that is not really in our hands. I know it was kind of spoken about in August that he may or may not have left. Liam is obviously a fantastic player coming into the prime of his career.

“He is still only relatively a young lad but he has got bags of experience and if he does go it would be a massive blow and a big loss to the lads, because he is a popular player.

“Hopefully we can keep hold of him, hopefully we can keep hold of everybody because if we do I’d be very confident that we will be pushing.”

Andrews played in the Premier League for Wolves, Blackburn and West Brom. The 33-year-old Irishman partnered Bridcutt for the first time in the 3-2 defeat at Charlton on Boxing Day.

“He is good enough to play in the Premier League without a shadow of a doubt,” Andrews said. “He’s got the tenacity, the knowledge of playing in a certain way. He picks up very good positions and uses the ball very well.

“I enjoyed playing with him. It was the first time, apart from in training. We’ve got a very competitive midfield, there’s no doubt about that, but we want to keep him, we want to keep Leo (Ulloa), Ashley Barnes in the last six months of his contract.

“These are players we want to keep hold of at least until the end of the season if the club are serious about mounting a promotion challenge