Albion boss Chris Hughton has played down the chances of finishing above Newcastle – despite cutting their lead at the top to two points.

Hughton says his old club have the strongest squad he has ever seen in the Championship and that finishing close to them will more or less guarantee promotion.

Albion have narrowed the gap after coming from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at the Amex and Newcastle’s shock 1-0 home defeat by Blackburn.

Hughton admitted: “It’s certainly unexpected for Newcastle to lose. I’m not sure why I say that because this is the Championship and any of us that are on good runs can lose a game.

“I still feel the team that is closest to Newcastle will have a great chance of being right up there for promotion. They have certainly got the strongest Championship squad I’ve seen. They recruited very well and balanced it very well with huge money for two players that went out. And, of course, in Rafa (Benitez) they have an absolute top manager.

“They have got two absolute quality players for each position. Only time will tell how strong a team they are.”

Hughton believes Newcastle have more strength in depth than when he took them straight back up to the Premier League in 2009-10, winning the title with 102 points.

He said: “The difference is I had a very settled team. When I started that season we probably had with West Brom the best team. It was just trying to manage that team.

“We were very consistent in the team that we played, didn’t have too many injuries, but we didn’t have the depth Rafa’s got now. That comes with its own problems. Rafa has got to manage a bigger squad and manage them well.”

Newcastle visit Nottingham Forest on Friday night, while Albion go to Cardiff on Saturday.