Wolves 0, Albion 0

Thank goodness for the mid-rankers.

One of the more interesting aspects of what has developed into a fraught fight for survival for Albion is where their points have come from.

Four against the top six, eight against others in the bottom six, 22 against the eight teams in-between.

The pattern continued with a gritty deadlock against Europa League qualification contenders.

Albion have taken four points from Wolves and West Ham, six from Crystal Palace, three from Everton and Saturday's visitors Newcastle.

It is not just a coincidence.

The top six have the best attacks, so it is more difficult to stop them.

Against the bottom sides, the onus is more on what Albion do with the ball, especially at home.

The mid-rankers will feel against sides like Chris Hughton's that they have enough in their armoury to be on the front foot home and away.

Hence they are more suited to Albion's strengths under Hughton (below), resilience and defensive organisation.

The Argus: Again, it is no coincidence that six of the seven clean sheets have come against sides already mentioned, as well as Watford in seventh.

The only exception is Huddersfield, relegated with currently just 14 points and by a distance the worst team.

Albion got back to what they are good at in the West Midlands heat.

It is testimony to their organisation, diligence and concentration that Raul Jimenez, such a goal scoring hit for Wolves, was so ineffective and that Wanderers failed to score at Molineux since their opening fixture of 2019 against Palace.

It is so much more like, in defensive terms, what we have become accustomed to from Hughton's side than for much of the preceding five-match losing sequence.

Shipping three goals at Chelsea, one against Manchester City at Wembley is one thing, seven at home to Bournemouth and Cardiff quite another.

Hughton said: "People always ask, why were we like we were in the last couple of games?

"It’s very hard to sustain it through the season, personnel, ability to score goals, they’ll always be a reason.

"Ultimately It comes down to discipline. We haven’t been big scorers and we haven’t been at that level in the last couple of games."

Albion have not been big scorers in the Premier League, full stop. It is not a new development, it just feels worse during a famine spanning 540 minutes.

They are two goals adrift of last season's final total of 34 with four games still to go. The real difference is they are only one short of the tally of 54 conceded - and they still have to play Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City.

It would already be 54 again had it not been for a miraculous save by Mathew Ryan in the final quarter of the contest as the pressure and corner count mounted.

The Argus: Diogo Jota's header from a Jimenez cross hit the inside of the far post. Leander Dendoncker, who had only just come on, looked certain to convert the rebound from point blank range but Ryan (above) somehow smothered the ball over the bar.

Diogo was more of a threat than partner and fellow Portugese Jimenez. He also flashed a shot just wide and struck the bar in first half stoppage time, although that would have been fortunate and extremely cruel on Albion after a Ruben Neves shot deflected skywards to inadvertently leave Ryan out of position.

The Seagulls never looked like scoring apart from when Beram Kayal, on for early casualty Davy Propper, shot narrowly over from 25 yards early in the second half.

Many feel Kayal should have been used more, although it is worth remembering Hughton sees the players far more and has far more information on which to base decisions than fans or, for that matter, the media.

"He (Propper) felt his hamstring which is a blow," Hughton said. "Kayal did really well."

The Argus: It is a measure of the attacking desperation that Jose Izquierdo (above) made his first league start since the beginning of December following two knee cartilage injuries, one requiring surgery, which have left the Colombian way below his best.

Hughton, asked if Albion need to evolve, said: "At this moment we’ve got four games left and all I’m thinking about is getting enough points which will see us in the division.

"There is already evolvement, players come in and others take a bit more time to settle than others, but that’s normal. In a period when things don’t go well you are always assessing why not. At the moment it’s about these four games, stay in the division and evaluate at the end of the season."

Quite right. Albion are playing survival football, fighting for their Premier League lives. The future can wait.