Albion have been told to blend control with aggression to blunt Burnley’s promotion surge.

The visitors head into Saturday’s top-of-the-table tussle with a four-point lead in the Championship after 11 wins and four draws since Boxing Day.

The Seagulls are in dominant form themselves, securing an eighth victory in 12 before the international break at MK Dons, where they had seven players booked and survived a fraught finish.

Albion assistant Colin Calderwood told The Argus: “Burnley have been on a terrific run and they are still unbeaten, so they have collected more points than anyone else over a period.

“The points we’ve got now won’t get us up. We need to win a few more.

“It’s very controlled and aggressive football that we’ve got to play and we don’t want the frenzy that happened at the end (at MK Dons) to hurt us with a suspension.”

Albion will go into the Burnley game back out of the automatic promotion places if Middlesbrough avoid defeat at Queens Park Rangers on Friday evening.

Calderwood said: “No one really knows what is going to happen.

"There are going to be moments when we are behind the black ball and times when we are looking very positive.

“We’ve got to keep the same thought process. The only time that really matters is the seventh of May.”