Hughton: Premier League fate in our own hands

In a congested table, just six points separate Watford in tenth to bottom-of-the-table Swansea.

Albion are fifth from bottom, one point above the bottom three and Hughton, whose side travel to fourth-from-bottom Southampton on Wednesday, said: "We would of course like to be three or four points better off than what we are but we're within a group of teams.

"The teams that are able to get a few results will be at the top end of that group.

"If you look at Watford, they are perhaps the biggest example. They had such a good start but as with everybody else have had difficult periods.

"At one stage, it looked like they would break away from the group but that's how difficult this division is.

"That's perhaps the comforting thing that it's in our own hands and we're in with a lot of other very good teams.

"We have shown really good periods and that we can get results. If I look at our standard of this season, we're going through a difficult period but that can happen at any stage.

"We weren't going to go through the whole season having everything go our way and not going through a dificult period.

"But we've managed to stay out of the bottom three and have to have intentions to stay like that."

Albion travel to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup tomorrow (3pm).