Albion have come a long way since defeat at Leicester. Now they can prove it

And success would be sweet for those who followed his side to the King Power Stadium last August.

That was the day when harsh Premier League realities hit home for Albion fans.

The day they realised the long, hard slog ahead to secure safety in the top flight.

Now the Seagulls get the chance to respond to their 2-0 defeat and show why Hughton believes they have come a long way since then.

They would certainly have settled for their current tally of 34 points from 30 games having been sent to a second defeat in as many outings that day.

Riyad Mahrez taunted Jamie Murphy with a bit of trickery near the end.

And there were some damning opinions of Albion’s efforts expressed in the media room soon after full-time.

It was a sobering afternoon after the giddiness of promotion and even the opening day clash with Manchester City.

Albion fans in defiant mood at the King Power

Hughton said: “I think we learnt a fair bit from that defeat and there wasn’t much in the performance.

“We played well but some of the strengths that we knew they had at that time were ones we should have nullified better. I think we’ve come on since then.

“At the moment Leicester are showing their quality after a difficult period.

“From our point of view we have to get results to stay in the league, whereas they will be looking to push into that European spot.

“You never know how a game will pan out, but what we are very aware of is their qualities and the areas of their game which can hurt us.

“But we’re at home, and we’ve been in good form there.

“You can’t go into any home game looking for anything less than a win.

“There are different ways of doing that so we must be conscious of their qualities.”

Jamie Vardy will spearhead Leicester’s likely 4-4-1-1 set-up fresh from his England goal at Wembley on Tuesday.

His 14 Premier League strikes this term have been evenly split with seven at the King Power and seven on the road.

Hughton said: “Jamie Vardy is one obvious danger and I thought we did okay against him earlier in the season but he has obvious strengths to those who play against them.

“He’s reliant on a good team behind him and the service.

“Credit to him because he keeps improving and he’s rightly part of the England squad.”

Tomer Hemed goes for goal at Leicester

Glenn Murray will lead the Albion attack and Tomer Hemed looks a likely back-up with Leo Ulloa not able to play against his parent club.

Hughton admits he does not always want to see his players featuring in internationals when they could be resting.

But Hemed was an exception as he scored for Israel against Romania last Saturday.

Hughton said: “It’s good for us to have that competition in the squad and that’s why you bring them in and why they train as well as they do.

“You have to wait for opportunities, and we’ve also had players who’ve played themselves into the team over the course of the campaign. When players are missing for whatever reason then you want people to be able to fill their places.

“I’m really pleased Tomer Hemed played and scored for Israel.

“It’s important he continues to get game time.

“Sometimes you’re happy for players not to start when they go away but in his case we were delighted for him.

“We’ve had six players away on international duty and their participation was quite good for us.”