Gus Poyet has urged Albion to stay in touch with the chasing pack in the Championship as they face one of their sternest tests of the season.

The Seagulls chief has tipped today’s hosts Middlesbrough as certainties for a top six finish.

Poyet believes his side are among several others who could sneak into a play-off place. He said: “There are teams that are going to be there for reasons of strength, power, history. Everything is on their side but then there is a group of six, seven or eight teams who can make the top six.

“We need to be in that group that are going to be very close. The difference between 12th and sixth this year is going to be five points, two games. Blackpool were outside the top six until the last few games and then got into the Premiership.

“If we have got a chance great, if not we need to make sure we learn a lot, that we are stronger, know what we are missing and don’t just go again with the same group of players.

“They (Middlesbrough) are going to be in the top six I am 100 % sure, so it’s one of the toughest places we are going to go to this season.

“It’s a nice challenge for us. Realistically they are in a better position than us, they know the division, they have been in the Premier League. It looks in their favour but in 90 minutes anything can happen.”

Albion are seventh but can go level on points with fourth-placed Middlesbrough by recording their fourth win in succession.

The form of Poyet’s League One champions has fluctuated so far and so has his selection policy. That is likely to be the case again today, with Will Buckley, Kazenga LuaLua and Romain Vincelot among those in contention to start after key impacts from the bench against Nottingham Forest last time out.

Poyet said: “Last year I didn’t have to change a lot. The team was picking itself, I didn’t have to make too many difficult decisions. It was very easy.

“This year, in the last three months, I’ve had options to change half of the team because of performances, so it’s been more challenging for me.

“Everything is possible. What I don’t want is people thinking now we are winning again we are top six, or bottom ten when we have a bad run. We are the same. I think we played better when we were not winning than now that we are winning.

“We were not too bad then and we are not fantastic now. It’s still a difficult, tight division. One mistake can change a game, or one good moment can win you a game.”