It will be a bit special if Chris Hughton steers Albion to their 50th win in the top flight of English football on Friday night.

A visit to West Ham is a homecoming for the Seagulls' boss, to where his playing career edged towards a successful conclusion and his move into coaching and management effectively began.

Hughton knows the Hammers' former base, Upton Park, and the area surrounding the new one, the London Stadium, better than Brighton and Hove.

Forest Gate, where he was brought up, is natural West Ham territory, far more so than a breeding ground for Spurs where he played, coached and managed - twice as a caretaker - for the bulk of his career.

Tackling West Ham takes Hughton from White Hart Lane to a trip down memory lane.

He said: "My parents still live in Upton Park, so I was born and brought up very close to the stadium.

"We take players now at seven years of age. In those days it was generally 13-14 and it was Spurs that came in, took a group of us that had been playing in the district of Newham side.

"I think there was something like five of us that went to Spurs trials and I ended up staying there.

"My upbringing was different. I was always playing. Although my dad is very much now a football fan I didn't have a family background of football.

"I think I went to West Ham once, a family friend took me. I was a football fanatic but always playing. I never really had an allegiance to any team. But I'm very much a West Ham lad."

The Argus: Geography is not the only reason for Hughton's affinity with West Ham. He played for them for two seasons in the early 1990's, initially on loan, then permanently as cover for the injured Julian Dicks (above).

"It was an important time," Hughton said: "I'd had a very long career at Tottenham and very successful in the first part of that.

"I went to West Ham and we ended up getting promotion from the old Second Division to the First Division, so it was a really enjoyable period of time.

"Billy Bonds was the manager. He was not only a great manager but a great individual.

"I remember Billy allowing me to do a couple of sessions there and it was a stage of my career when I was very much thinking about coaching."

Twenty-five years on, Hughton takes Albion to the expansive stage for the London 2012 Olympics, a stark contrast to tight-knit Upton Park.

Co-owners David Gold and David Sullivan at West Ham's London Stadium

The Argus: The Hammers are gradually getting to grips with their new home. They won only seven of their 19 matches in the Premier League last season but have already seen off Huddersfield and Swansea either side of losing to Spurs. Their schedule was delayed for the World Athletics Championships.

Hughton said: "It will be my first time (at the stadium). I know that particular area very well, around Stratford and the changes in Stratford over these last years. It's unrecogniseable for us that were brought up around the area but it's happened for the right reasons.

"They've got a massive stadium now and there are more people that can watch. I'm sure they will be successful there.

"West Ham are the same as all other supporters. They want their team to win and it generally seems to be the case with West Ham that when they have a difficult period they always come through it."

Albion are immediately above the Hammers at the moment on goal difference. The gap would have been greater but for Wayne Rooney's 90th minute equaliser from the penalty spot for Everton at the Amex on Sunday.

Hughton said: "I suppose the reality is although it felt like a defeat, it wasn't.

"We had enough good periods in the game and showed good enough form in the game that will continue to be encouraging.

"That being the case, it's not so difficult to pick the players up. For us, every game is a challenge, every game is something new.

"We are a team that is having to get used to this division and the quality of it. At the moment, it's not too difficult to pick the players up.

"Overall I'm satisfied. I wouldn't go further than that. I'm disappointed we didn't get the win on Sunday and probably the Bournemouth one, because we played at a good enough level to have at least got a draw, so there have been some disappointments.

"The players have coped with the levels quite well. In the eight games so far there isn't anybody who has given us a good beating or that we've found it really difficult (against) in a game."