Boss Chris Hughton says there is pressure and expectation on tonight's hosts Hull and the other clubs around his Albion team at the top of the table to get promoted.

The Seagulls, 20th last season, kicked off as 33-1 outsiders in the Championship.

Hughton told The Argus: "There is no doubt if you are Middlesbrough, Derby, Hull or Burnley there is pressure that comes with that from the start of the season.

"There's no doubt there's more expectation from those teams. Two have come down and two have spent very big to make sure they can secure Premier League status.

"If there is less expectation sometimes you can hopefully benefit from that but I would rather be at the top of the table with the pressure that comes with it."

The January signings of Steve Sidwell and Jiri Skalak, along with a gradually clearing injury list, has given Hughton more scope to rotate for the triple away tests at Hull, Cardiff on Saturday and Bristol City next Tuesday.

He said: "We have better options now but in a series of games I just generally tend to look at the first one. We are certainly in a better position now than we were before."