Albion's attempt to return to winning ways at the Amex today is under threat from Burnley's trio of rotating strikers who used to wear the blue and white stripes.

Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood and Sam Vokes represented Albion in the League One and Championship and have now helped Burnley into the top six of the Premier League.

Manager Sean Dyche has made a habit this season of starting with one of them and bringing the other two off the bench.

It worked against Stoke at Turf Moor on Tuesday. Barnes, introduced in place of Republic of Ireland midfielder Jeff Hendrick, hit an 89th minute winner.

Gus Poyet showed great faith in Barnes throughout his time in charge of Albion but he was not particularly appreciated by supporters.

Signed from Plymouth, initially on loan, he scored 53 goals in 170 appearances between March 2010 and January 2014 before joining Burnley for £700,000.

Barnes' contract was running down and, according to the club, then-manager Oscar Garcia was happy to let him go.

Albion boss Chris Hughton joked: "That's a free these days! He's a good player.

"He had a big (knee) injury. He comes over as a very good individual, hard-working. I would imagine he is benefiting from not playing game in game out, starting some but also coming off the bench, and they know he will come off the bench with a really good attitude and want to give himself the best opportunity to score."

The Argus: Kiwi Wood (above centre) was part of the Albion squad with Barnes and Glenn Murray that won League One under Poyet in Albion's final year at Withdean in 2010-11.

He contributed eight goals in 29 games on loan from West Brom.

Wood has matured since then, joining Burnley in a £15 million move from Leeds in August. He started with four goals in his first eight outings but is currently in a lean patch of one in his last seven matches.

Wood gave way to Vokes against Stoke, the Welsh international's 200th appearance for Burnley.

Vokes (below) scored three times in 15 appearances for Albion on loan from Wolves from January to May 2012, their first season at the Amex in the Championship.

The Argus: He has hit the target once in 11 games since an opening day double in Burnley's shock victory at champions Chelsea.

The Albion connections with today's visitors do not end there. Burnley made multiple attempts to buy Dale Stephens before the Seagulls were promoted.

Among the midfielders Dyche has signed since then is England newcomer Jack Cork, son of former Albion assistant manager Alan.

Adie Copper has been identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Hughton's side on Burnley's behalf in his role as opposition analyst, a position he also held at the Amex prior to following Poyet to Sunderland.

Burnley have won six games 1-0. Two of Albion's victories, at home to Newcastle and away to Swansea, were achieved by the same score.

Hughton is seeking a return to reliability at both ends of the pitch after seeing nine goals leaked in a hat-trick of defeats and having only Glenn Murray's penalty against Liverpool to show for their attacking efforts in the last five matches.

He told The Argus: "There's two ways of looking at it. You have either got to score more goals or stop conceding so many. When ever things have not gone so well the bigger priority is to stop conceding.

"When you have a barren period like we are at the moment for scoring goals, you are always confident you will score and create but you are up against better quality now and you've got to work harder to stop them going in.

"Against a team like Burnley that have had so much success this season so far that has been their philosophy, to be a difficult team to play against but that can grind out results."