Boss Chris Hughton has pinpointed Albion's hard-earned point at Wolves as pivotal to staving off relegation.

He says the same defensive resilience they displayed at Molineux and at Spurs will be needed to halt Manchester City's bid to clinch the title.

Albion ended a run of four straight defeats with a crucial 0-0 draw last month at Wolves, who face City's title rivals Liverpool at Anfield.

The Seagulls were only beaten late on at Tottenham three days later and Hughton wants more of the same against City.

He said: "What we've had to be is exactly that, defensively strong. The Wolves result was pivotal to us. When I look back through this difficult period, and the moments and games that turned things in our favour a bit, the Wolves game was the one.

"A very good defensive performance, too, at Tottenham. Those are the qualities we'll have to have on Sunday. They will have more possession, they will want to score, they will be relentless.

"The ball will be more in our half than ours. I'm not embarrassed by the fact we'll have to defend well and for long periods. But those performances turned it in our favour, and I'm confident we can do that again."

The Argus: Hughton believes he has in Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy one of the best central defensive partnerships in the Premier League.

Asked if there are many better, he said: "No. They've been excellent for us, and they've had to be. For a club of our level, we know there'll be a good percentage of games where we'll have less possession and the opposition are going to be a real goal threat.

"What has helped us is that both players, apart from being old fashioned centre-halves, enjoy defending. Not only the consistency of the performances, but the consistency of being on the football pitch. They don't miss many games.

"Neither of them have had big injuries. That always helps. When you look at the best types of partnerships, it's because they've played a lot of games together. These have had three seasons of playing together regularly and have benefited from that."