Albion boss Sami Hyypia has backed his squad to cope with a barrage of away games in a busy spell before the next international break.

The Seagulls’ return to Championship action at Brentford today launches a run of seven matches in three weeks, five of them on the road.

The schedule culminates in trips to the early top two, Nottingham Forest and Watford now managed by Hyypia’s predecessor Oscar Garcia, with a visit in-between from Cardiff, tipped by many for an immediate return to the Premier League.

Hyypia believes he now has the resources to deal with such a testing programme after Albion’s widespread transfer business.

He said: “I am pretty happy with the squad. It looks a lot different than three or four weeks ago, so I’m pretty happy and I think we can cope with all these games.

“There will be rotation. I want to keep players fit and in many positions we have two good options and we can play any of them.

“Of course this seven-game period is tough, because we have five away games and two at home.

“That is not a good balance to have but we need to face everyone home and away, so it doesn’t really matter at which time they come.

“They are all tough games, even against those teams that maybe people don’t think will be up there to fight for promotion.”