CHRIS HUGHTON has warned Albion they cannot depend on their home form to keep them in the Premier League.

The Seagulls have gained 15 of their 23 points at the Amex, where only Manchester City and Liverpool have beaten them.

They host reigning champions Chelsea on Saturday before crucial away games at two of the teams below them, Southampton and Stoke.

The 2-0 defeat at West Brom at the weekend stretched Albion’s poor away run to one point from 18.

Hughton told The Argus: “Wherever they come from my thought process hasn’t really changed. Ultimately you have to get enough points.

“We have drawn a lot of games at home. I thought we were good at Newcastle (0-0) but weren’t able to score and, of course, the away victories at Swansea and West Ham were very good victories.

“But we have to get points and some of them will have to be away from home.”

Hughton has full financial backing from owner-chairman Tony Bloom to strengthen the squad with a striker and replacement for injured loan signing Izzy Brown in the January transfer window.

He said: “The fact we want to do something, that always comes down from the chairman. But it is being able to do something with some of the complications, prices and salaries. It won’t be through lack of trying.

“We have worked very hard on potential targets.

“These windows can be very complicated because players you might have been interested in bringing to the club, circumstances change, other clubs come in for them, the value becomes too high for what you thought it was going to be.

“There are all of these things. At this moment there is a lot of speculation for every club but not a lot of business is being done.”

Burnley have been linked with a move for Solly March, but Albion have no interest in losing the young winger.

The under-23s game against West Brom last night was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Crawley.