It is a surprise to most people to see Albion’s next two opponents, Norwich and Fulham, nowhere near the top of the current Championship table.

In a pre-season poll by The Argus, for example, of reporters covering the 24 Championship clubs, five tipped today’s hosts Norwich for automatic promotion, 11 others for the play-offs.

The predictions were similar for Fulham. Six are expecting next Saturday’s visitors to go straight back up automatically, eight more to be in the play-offs.

They may eventually be proved right but, together with Cardiff, the clubs relegated from the Premier League have found the second tier hard going so far.

Norwich have spluttered following a powerful start, Fulham are rising since replacing Felix Magath with Kit Symons but remain in the bottom half of the table.

All of which comes as less of a surprise to Aaron Hughes, Albion’s Premier League expert.

Most of his career has been spent in the top flight with Newcastle, Aston Villa and Fulham.

The 35-year-old Northern Ireland centre-half joined the Seagulls this summer to replace another veteran, Matt Upson, after a brief spell at the end of last season helping QPR to promotion back to the Premier League.

His experience with Rangers and Albion of the Championship is limited but Hughes, who deputises for the banned Lewis Dunk at Carrow Road today, appreciates why Norwich and one of his former clubs have struggled to adapt.

He told The Argus: “It’s a difficult league. It’s different in a way and it’s very unpredictable. You look through the fixtures every Saturday and it’s so hard to predict.

“There are one or two (results) you could maybe go for but a lot of them anyone can beat anyone on the day. That’s a big factor.

“And for teams coming down, if they haven’t been in the league before or for a while, it’s about getting used to the game, the style of football.

“It’s very physical, a lot more frantic at times, just attack after attack back and forward, and you have to be strong defensively.

“In the Premier League teams don’t come at you all the time. They wait, pick their moments, but when they do come they come with that quality and force. That’s a big difference.

“I think it’s just about getting used to it and finding their feet. Norwich got off to a good start. They’ve had a few results not go their way. I am sure they will be well up for it this weekend.

“Fulham have, I think, found their feet a little bit now. They have brought some of the more experienced players back into the side.

“That has helped the younger lads a lot, because there is no doubt they have some talented young lads.

“But to drop them all in at once and ask them to compete in the Championship was a very tough thing to do.

“The older lads have helped them and you can start to see the quality of the younger lads coming through, so that won’t be an easy game either.

“They will be coming down here looking to continue their good form of late, so they are two tough games for us.”

Two tough games which Hughes would like to think Albion are prepared for as they attempt to climb away from trouble at the wrong end of the table after four points at home against Wigan and Blackburn prior to the international break.

“We have got to be confident in ourselves and believe in what we do, look at the past few results we’ve had and build on that,” Hughes said. “There’s no reason why we can’t do well.”