Aaron Hughes admits Derby should probably not be in the Championship this season.

But the Albion defender has a theory as to how the Seagulls could shock the leaders at the iPro Stadium.

Hughes was an unused substitute in the Championship play-off final last season while on loan at QPR.

He watched Bobby Zamora leave one of the seats alongside him and go on to score the goal which sent Derby and their crestfallen skipper Richard Keogh to a last-gasp 1-0 defeat.

But, from his pitchside perch at Wembley, he recognised that the Rams could easily have won that match, especially after QPR had Garry O’Neil sent off.

And he knows how good they can be.

A depleted Albion defence eventually felt the full force of Derby’s attacking play in the play-off semi-final last term after three very tight matches over the course of the season.

They lost 1-0 at the iPro in the league, three weeks before Hughes and QPR went down by the same score at the same venue.

Hughes said: “That was my first game for QPR.

“Derby are a good footballing side. In the play-off final, especially when QPR went down to ten men, the probably deserved to win with the way they played.

“So I knew they would be there or thereabouts this season.

“They have hit a bit of form. They have got good players.

“They are confident, they knock the ball about, they are good on the ball.

“You can see why they are going places.”

Which begs the question as to how the Seagulls halt a Rams side who will be fired up to make up for last Saturday’s defeat at Leeds.

Hughes reckons positive thinking holds the key.

He said: “The danger for us is to start looking at all the negative things.

“We can’t get away from where we are in the league. We know there are areas to be improved.

“That being said, we’ve also got to concentrate on the good things we do and be confident to continue to do them. Then things will turn for us. “