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."