BOSS Chris Hughton believes Albion have broken a psychological barrier by ending their top six blank against Arsenal.

Yesterday’s 2-1 win at the Amex was the first time the Seagulls have taken points this season off one of the Premier League’s big guns.

Their previous seven clashes had resulted in seven defeats, with 18 goals conceded and one scored, but toppling Arsenal has lifted that burden from the players’ minds.

Hughton said: “Yes, I probably didn’t think that before. More importantly, if you’d said to me at the start of the season we’d stay up with a certain number of points but not beat any of the top six, we’d have settled for that. But that (win) will do us the world of good.”

Albion are tenth, seven points clear of the relegation zone, after stretching their unbeaten run in the Premier League and FA Cup to seven games with first-half goals by Lewis Dunk, his first for 14 months, and Glenn Murray’s 13th of the season.

They still have to face Spurs and Manchester United at home, Manchester City and Liverpool away, in the remaining nine games, so Hughton is not taking the cushion over the drop zone for granted.

He told The Argus: “It’s very comforting.

“But we’re all professionals around here and our thoughts have to be on the next game. Can we get more points to make it even more comforting?

“As soon as you take your foot off the pedal, there are too many good teams around who can knock you down again.”

Albion went into the game with the worst record in the Premier League defending and attacking corners but that was the route they exploited for Dunk’s early breakthrough.

Hughton said: “We’ve been working on it all season. Sometimes you go through a period and we’ve gone through a long period conceding goals from corners, far too many.

“Thankfully that challenge we’ve turned around and we’ve been a lot more solid, but we hadn’t scored enough goals of our own from set plays.”