CHRIS Hughton says Albion must handle the pressure of getting results in the next run of Premier League games to give themselves even more breathing space from the bottom three.

The Seagulls are seven points clear of the relegation zone after a 2-1 defeat at Manchester United, which followed the 1-0 home defeat by Liverpool.

A friendlier sequence of fixtures awaits after Saturday's fourth round FA Cup tie against West Brom at the Amex.

Albion are 12 points clear of next-to-bottom, Fulham their hosts a week tomorrow. They then play Watford and Burnley at home, Chelsea and Leicester away, and rock-bottom Huddersfield at home.

Hughton told The Argus: "If you had asked me at this stage would I be happy on the back of two positive performances against United and Liverpool and to be seven points clear then I would say yes.

"But the pressure is always getting the points you need to.

"We are going into a series of games now and the pressure will be on us to make sure that we get points from those games."

Albion paid the penalty at Old Trafford for the second week running, Paul Pogba converting a spot-kick to put United ahead after the French star was fouled by Gaetan Bong.

Mo Salah won and converted a penalty for Liverpool given away by Pascal Gross, who scored the second half reply against United after Marcus Rashford doubled the deficit.

Hughton said: "A penalty is a penalty. I don't think you can ever be happy that we've given a penalty away.

"I just felt that it's a penalty we didn't need to give away.

"We gave away one last week (against Liverpool) similar. We gave away one against Leicester very late in the game. That's a disappointment.

"They are going to push and push, really clever players. It's very hard defensively but I was disappointed with the two goals.

"On the second goal, the last thing you want is a Salah or Rashford in the box on a one v one, because they can beat the best defenders.

"Once I calm down a bit the overriding feeling will be we've given United a game and a fairly rampant United at the moment."

Hughton will utilise his squad again against West Brom, who have a Championship game at Bolton tonight.

He said: "I've got a very competitive squad. For the Bournemouth game (third round) I made eight changes, so certainly I will make changes."