ALBION boss Chris Hughton has told his players they face a fight for their Premier League lives at home to Cardiff tomorrow night after they were a "soft touch" for Bournemouth.
They are still five points clear of the Welshmen following the 5-0 mauling by Bournemouth, their heaviest defeat ever at the Amex.
Cardiff were controversially beaten 2-0 at Burnley but Hughton said: "They are going to fight and scrap and, if any team have been lifted, it might be a Cardiff team lifted by our result at home.
"They are going to come here on Tuesday and give us a very difficult game.
"I have a group of players that know they have performed nowhere near well enough to get something from a game.
"And we came up against a very dynamic Bournemouth team that, even in their history, won't score five goals on too many occasions. We've been a soft touch for them."
Boos greeted the half-time and full-time whistles and Hughton's decision to swap a striker for a striker by replacing Florin Andone with Glenn Murray shortly after Albion went 2-0 down early in the second half.
Hughton said: "I've been around a long time. I know crowds, I know the reaction of crowds. And we've got a very good crowd here.
"Any reaction from a crowd is warranted. We have supporters, at any club, who pay a lot of money to come and watch games, and they are entitled to their opinion.
"And when they don't like what they see, sometimes they vent it. But I can honestly say these are a good group of supporters and, if we thought there was a change, it would be different (worse) at other places. So I am certainly not going to criticise a group of supporters that have been very good for us.
"They are on our side and any way they are venting their anger a little bit is because they haven't liked what they have seen.
"Our responsibility is to make sure that we work hard enough, that they can see a group of players working harder, and do well enough to make sure that we have a support that we can rely on."
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