Sam Allardyce believes Brighton’s attacking approach could help kick-start West Brom’s survival bid.
Brighton dominated bitter rivals Crystal Palace on Monday to win general acclaim for their performance.
But two Palace sucker-punches proved costly as Graham Potter’s side suffered a first defeat in seven Premier League games, leaving them in 16th place and only four points above the relegation zone.
“The only reason Brighton are not in the top eight is because they haven’t got a goalscorer,” West Brom manager Allardyce said ahead of the Seagulls’ visit to the Hawthorns on Saturday.
“They create more chances for where they are in the league than any of us in that bottom 10.
“Their attacking play and creating of chances is exceptionally good, but their conversion of chances is their problem.
“When you attack like that it does leave space to expose very quickly, as you saw against Crystal Palace.
“People were saying how did Crystal Palace win with just two shots on target, but it showed some of Brighton’s frailties, what you could do on counter-attacking to a very attacking side.
“The failure to win that game for Brighton must have been very disappointing, particularly on that performance, but what it shows us where those weaknesses may be.”
West Brom are 11 points adrift of safety with Allardyce having won only one of his dozen games in charge since his December arrival.
Albion face a crucial run of three home games in eight days with Everton and Newcastle, another relegation rival, due to visit.
Allardyce said: “We’ve had so many six pointers recently – Fulham, Sheffield United, Burnley – but we’ve failed to get three points off any of those.
“Here we have another one in Brighton and it will be very difficult to win on the basis of how they’re playing.
“They’ve just been to Liverpool and beaten them, and comfortably. They’re playing with a lot of confidence and we’ll have to be on top of our game.
“We can’t take them lightly, because we’re playing Brighton. We haven’t got the right to switch off in or win any game.
“It needs to be as big as the performance against Man United and the 10 men against Burnley (West Brom drew both games) if we’re to get a result.”
To that end, Allardyce says he has been stressing to his players the importance of taking points from teams around them.
He said: “Our players need the pressure. I’ve been trying to show them, because I don’t think they’ve been shown before, that your safety, your life, your bread and butter, lies in not losing and beating the bottom eight teams.
“When you’re the top team in the bottom eight on winning or drawing, you do not get relegated.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to stress but the message, as important as it is, hasn’t got through because we haven’t won one of those games yet.”
