ALBION boss Chris Hughton is hopeful Tony Bloom can fend off potential January interest in youth system products Lewis Dunk and Solly March.

Central defender Dunk and winger March have both made impressive starts in the Premier League.

Bloom has turned down offers for Dunk and other star players over the past 15 months.

Hughton told The Argus: “Our chairman has certainly showed that desire over recent windows to keep our best players here.

“Any speculation is always nice speculation, because it means they are doing well. But we’ve got a chairman that has resisted.”

Hughton handed first team debuts to two more youth products, Republic of Ireland pair Jayson Molumby and Des Hutchinson, earlier in the season in the Carabao Cup.

Sunday’s visitors Southampton (1.30pm) have been role models for bringing through home-grown talent. Hughton said: “If a club like ours, where we are situated, what we are trying to do and the way the chairman has invested in the Academy, were able to do any part of what Southampton have done in recent years then we would be absolutely delighted with that.

“They’ve got a wonderful model. One thing that home supporters really enjoy seeing is players that come through the system to play in their first team.

“It is getting harder, I think, because of the pressures on instant success and bringing players and foreign players in.”

Albion could climb as high as seventh by beating Saints, with Liverpool and Huddersfield facing each other today and Burnley and Newcastle not playing until Monday, but Hughton is not getting carried away after the 3-0 win at West Ham.

He said: “There’s always that danger but it’s my responsibility, and the responsibility of the people around me, to make sure we’re level-headed going into every game.

“We’ve learned so far in this division that if your level of performance is like it was at West Ham, you have every chance of winning a game.

“But if they had scored early in the game, then it could have been completely different. I know the teams were completely changed, but we saw in West Ham’s midweek game (against Spurs), it looked over and, of course, it wasn’t.

“It’s my responsibility to make sure we’re grounded and going into every game knowing that we have to work very hard to get a result.”