Brighton need to start making home advantage count – beginning with Burnley on Saturday.

Things have gone a little pear-shaped in recent weeks after a great start to life in the Premier League and that needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Our recent stats do not make happy reading. Two points from the last 18, four defeats in the last five games, one goal and none from open play in the last five matches, and now just three points off the relegation zone.

Throw in the fact that Brighton have not won any of their last five games at the Amex – albeit four of them have been draws – and the alarm bells are beginning to ring.

The best way to stop the rot is to get back to basics and use what advantages you have, which in Brighton’s case should be playing at the Amex in front of 30,000 passionate fans every home game. At the start of the season we were doing that, with two wins from the first three games at home and the only defeat in that sequence being a resilient 2-0 loss to Manchester City, but recently the advantage of playing at home has not been exploited.

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Now Brighton have two home matches on the trot, against team-of-the-season so far Burnley and Watford, who have done pretty well themselves. There is no point people saying “they will both be tough games, we would take a point from each”. I reckon we need three points from each if we want to avoid spending Christmas in the relegation zone.

The aim was always to give ourselves a fighting chance come January, when the transfer window opens and when surely some strengthening will be done, most notably a striker or two. What we cannot afford to do is to start getting cut adrift, which could possibly happen as trips to Chelsea and Newcastle at the end of December do not look like big point-earners for the Seagulls!

Losing away to Tottenham was no problem for me – I expected us to lose there. But Burnley on Saturday is a huge game which we simply have to win. That will be done by getting the crowd onside from the start, by defending set-pieces better (which has become an Achilles heel for us), by taking the game to Burnley rather than sitting back cautiously and by saying to Burnley, ‘This is our home, you are taking nothing from it’.

I was pleased Chris Hughton opted for squad rotation against Tottenham, resting Bruno, Pascal Gross and Glenn Murray, although I think he could have gone further. A plus point from the game was that Beram Kayal came in for his first Premier League appearance and did well. That gives us a selection option for Saturday and my feeling is Kayal should start in place of either Davy Propper or Dale Stephens.

Against Tottenham we went more 4-3-3 as opposed to the 4-4-1-1 we have used this season. I would like a return to the 4-4-2 which got us promoted last season, with Sam Baldock coming in alongside Murray or Tomer Hemed to ask more questions of Burnley.

But whoever Hughton picks or whatever formation he goes for, Brighton have to make that home advantage count. Over to you boys.

@GriggoHome