Brighton and Hove Albion Analysis: Graft and craft, the hard yards behind the win at West Ham

Now they are earning the right to stay in it this season by providing a firm basis for their flair players to flourish.

Friday night's breakthrough 3-0 win at West Ham, the first away from home in the top flight for 34 years, emphasised the importance of doing the ugly stuff.

Between Glenn Murray's early header and Jose Izquierdo's sweet strike just before the break - described by beleaguered West Ham boss Slane Bilic as the "killer" - Albion dealt with many of the 29 crosses slung into their box throughout the match.

Invariably it was the head or boot of Lewis Dunk or Shane Duffy (below right), but the hard graft began from the front.

The Opta statistics for the contest, or rather no-contest, are revealing.

Murray, aside from his two goals, covered 6.6 miles. That was almost as far as Albion's marathon man, Pascal Gross (6.8).

Behind the No.9 and No.10, the increasingly influential central midfield partnership of Dale Stephens and Davy Propper put in a proper shift.

Stephens covered the most ground of any player in the wide expanses of the London Stadium, 7.6 miles.

His Dutch accomplice Propper - whose role in setting up Izquierdo's goal should not be overlooked - was not far behind on 7.2 miles.

Four of the top six places were occupied by Albion players. Only Manuel Lanzini and Pedro Obiang made the frame for West Ham.

It was a similar story in the sprints table. Anthony Knockaert (70) had the most. The Frenchman was followed by Izquierdo and, yes, Murray both on 61.

Murray impressively kept fleet-footed company from the flanks. Michail Antonio, the Hammers' powerful and pacey right-winger well marshalled by the recalled Gaetan Bong, came next on the sprint list on 55.

So Albion players occupied the top three spots.

They also had the quickest player. Izquierdo reached a high speed of 21.1 mph. Knockaert and Antonio were joint-second on 20.4 mph.

In other words, Albion ran further and faster than West Ham all over the pitch.

This was as fundamental to the clean sheet as the eyecatching contributions of Dunk (below) and Duffy.

Manager Chris Hughton gleaned as much satisfaction from the shut-out as the three goals.

Referring to Dunk and Duffy, he said: "I thought they were both outstanding, but they have to have a team in front of them and that's about leading from the front and a defensive strategy away from home.

"Sometimes it doesn't work, you concede a goal and it all changes. You have to open up and play a little bit of a different game.

"You are reliant on a team to stick to their jobs. We had to cope with a lot of crosses, particularly in the first half. I thought we dealt with them well, which gave us the platform to push on."

The perfect away performance, in Hughton's words, also provided a simultaneous rebuttal of the biggest two reservations about Albion's survival prospects - whether they can pick up enough points away from the Amex and whether they can score enough goals.

They have hit three in a game twice now, against West Ham and West Brom. Of the teams outside the top eight, only Leicester and Stoke have been more prolific.

They also have the joint-second best defensive record among the same group of clubs. The ten goals conceded is only one more than Burnley and Southampton, the same as Chelsea.

Albion are getting it right where it matters most, in both boxes, and they have the level-headed Hughton to keep them on track.

He said: "I have been around enough, and also in this division, to know this is the type of division if you are not on your game where you can lose three, four, five games on the spin.

"What we have done over these nine games is been in every game, even against Manchester City and Arsenal (2-0 defeats).

"In terms of a statement, we shouldn't be frightened of the challenges we have and I think we've got enough quality and desire in the squad to make a good account of ourselves in a lot of games.

"Whether that wins you enough games, that's different. It's goals that win you games and at this moment we're doing okay."

Better than okay. The last time Albion won so handsomely away in the top tier was in April 1981, when John Gregory netted twice in a 3-0 victory at Crystal Palace.

It was the first of four straight wins at the end of the season which staved off relegation.

A quarter of the way through this one, even the grounded Hughton is entitled to feel such a miraculous run may not be required this time.