Albion boss Oscar Garcia has urged his players to forget about their futures and concentrate on the run-in.

Only four of the team and four of the substitutes involved in Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday are contracted to the club next season.

The rest have deals which run out in June or, in the cases of loan trio Stephen Ward, Keith Andrews and Jesse Lingard, return to their parent clubs.

Oscar does not expect the uncertain situation for the majority of the squad to be a distraction to the Seagulls’ challenge for the Championship play-offs.

He told The Argus: “Everybody has to be focused on these nine games. Hopefully we have to play more than that but the players need to be focused on the next game and winning them all.

“During my career I knew I had to play 100% if I wanted to stay or if I had to sign for another club, to show everybody my level and to play as well as I can.”

Albion should have Leo Ulloa back from illness against Middlesbrough at the Amex today to spearhead their bid to respond to back-to-back defeats by Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday.

Oscar said: “In the last two games we had more passes than in any of the other games but it’s difficult to win if you don’t take the chances. This is one thing we have to improve if we want to win games.”