Glenn Murray was a square peg in a round hole at Bournemouth.

But he reckons his old club represent a role model for Albion in the Premier League.

Murray joined Bournemouth from the Seagulls' arch-rivals Crystal Palace two summers ago.

He headed a famous winner for the Cherries at Chelsea but a clash of styles limited his chances and he rejoined Albion on loan a year ago before the move became permanent in January.

While robust goalgetter Murray spearheaded Albion's promotion from the Championship, Bournemouth improved to ninth in their second season in the Premier League under Eddie Howe (below).

The Argus: They have strengthened their squad again for the forthcoming season with the £10 million capture of ex-Chelsea and Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic, former England striker Jermain Defoe on a free transfer from Sunderland and defender Nathan Ake for £20 million from Chelsea after he was on loan to them.

They are also interested in Joe Gomez, the versatile young Liverpool defender Albion are keen to borrow.

Murray said: "They've done fantastically. It’s a pretty small club, but they've got their brand of football, they play it and it's worked well for them in the Premier League.

"After two successful seasons, the third one is going to be difficult as well, but they've added strength in depth so that is exactly what we need to do over the next three or four years."

Albion find themselves in a similar situation to Bournemouth as they approach their debut campaign in the Premier League.

Howe's side were written off as relegation fodder after they went up as champions in 2014-15, but they survived and are now beginning to establish themselves with a core of players that were with them not only in the Championship but League One as well.

Murray said: "A lot of people don’t look at the Championship too much compared to the ones that watch the Premier League.

"To say Bournemouth are a small club and doubtful they won't stay up is very narrow minded and they've proved a lot of people wrong, including experts.

"If you look at the seven players that played in League One for them, if you had said they would play regularly in the Premier League for two years, people would have laughed.

The Argus: "You look at the likes of Harry Arter, Simon Francis, Junior Stanislas, Steve Cook (above) who we let go. You look at those guys and see that being a team is more than being a talented individual. They are starting to achieve great things."

Murray believes Albion are capable of following suit under the calming influence of Chris Hughton - as long as the dressing room unity remains in tact and fans keep faith during the hard times.

"When you win things and win games regularly you are going to enjoy it," said the 33-year-old marksman. "This year is going to be a lot different.

"It's going to be different for the players and the fans. We've got to understand we're not going to win as many games as we have in the previous two seasons.

"I think the fans have been spoilt with the way the club has performed over the last two seasons and the amount of games they've won.

"The stats show, I think, that Brighton have won the most games in all the professional leagues in England over the last two years.

"We need to get our head around it's not going to be all wins and goals. We are going to have some tough times and that's when we have really got to show our togetherness."

Albion visit Bournemouth early on in mid-September, during a run of fixtures they will need to pick up points from to be on course to stay up after Manchester City's opening day visit to the Amex.

Murray said: "I haven't look past City to be honest. We will have meetings within the squad and with the manager. We'll put our targets up a month or so in advance and then we'll revisit it after a month and see where we are. We will have a plan."