Graham Potter has dismissed claims his side had been lucky to reach their current points tally, amid a poor run of form.
The Seagulls have secured just seven points from their last eight matches and currently sit two points ahead of Aston Villa, who occupy the final relegation spot.
Potter’s side travel to Bournemouth on Tuesday, with both sides facing the threat of relegation, and will be hoping for for a similar performance to their comfortable 2-0 victory over the Cherries at the Amex Stadium in December.
The Seagulls boss said at a press conference reported by the club Twitter account: “Comparisons to last year aren’t useful for me because I wasn’t here. Sometimes you get points you do or sometimes don’t deserve.
“I don’t think we’ve been lucky to get our current tally, but of course we can always improve.”
Bournemouth have fared even worse in recent weeks, losing 10 of their last 12 matches and are just three points above bottom-placed Norwich, although Potter believes every side is capable of securing results in the top-flight.
He added: “We’ll have moments where we don’t win, this is a really tough league.
“We had nine wins last year, we need to learn from all of our experiences and try to improve.
“Everyone is capable of getting results in this division.”
During his side’s draw against Aston Villa on Saturday, Neal Maupay was involved in a scuffle with former Brentford team-mate Ezri Konsa, but the manager expects the 23-year-old to learn from his mistakes.
Potter said: “I’ll speak to Neal later today, but he’s young and he’ll learn from the weekend, we all make mistakes. He’s key for us, as are all of our attacking players.”
The Seagulls boss has no fresh injury concerns to contend with and is set to have a full squad available apart from long-term absentees Dan Burn and Jose Izquierdo.
