Albion boss Steve Coppell is confident the relegation battle will go right to the wire - with the help of his old club Crystal Palace.

The Seagulls need to win their last two matches and Stoke lose theirs to beat the drop on goal difference.

Albion entertain beaten FA Cup semi-finalists Watford on Saturday.

Seagulls supporters will for once be hoping arch rivals Palace can simultaneously do them a favour against Stoke at Selhurst Park under caretaker Steve Kember after Trevor Francis was axed last week.

Coppell said: "We've got to keep our part of the deal and that is to win and see what happens elsewhere.

"I've just got this sneaking feeling about this season. I still think it will go to the last game.

"Steve Kember is trying to make a claim for the job. He doesn't do that by being beaten every week.

"It's a difficult place for anyone to go to, as we found out earlier in the season, and I am sure Stoke will find that."

Palace found themselves in a similar position to Albion two seasons ago.

They were four points behind Huddersfield with an inferior goal difference with two games left, but survived with wins at Portsmouth and Stockport.

Huddersfield could only draw against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park and then lost at home to Birmingham.

Palace finished that season on 49 points, the number former Albion manager Micky Adams predicted his old club required to survive.

The chances of reaching that total evaporated with Monday's 1-1 home stalemate against Sheffield Wednesday, which emphasises how expensive that result could turn out to be.

Stoke have lost only once in ten matches, a run launched by last month's 1-0 home victory against Albion.

Their boss Tony Pulis is taking nothing for granted. "It would be wrong to think we are safe," he said. "We still need a point to be sure and this is no time to be stepping off the gas and thinking we have done it.

"I've been in the game too long to take anything for granted. We've just come off the back of two great wins and there's nothing to say Brighton can't do the same at home to Watford and at Grimsby.

"We've got two difficult games to come at Palace then at home to Reading and we all know what a great season they've had."

Pulis has a reputation for keeping things tight. Dave Beasant, Albion's veteran goalkeeper, believes needing only a draw could actually work against his side.

"You might see them setting up fairly defensive," said Beasant. "Sometimes that can rebound on you if you don't push out for a goal. You end up camped in your box and all it takes is one little slip.

"If Stoke do it you've got to give them a bit of credit, because they've had a good run.

"We looked at their run-in and thought they wouldn't have an easy time, but they've now got games where they haven't got to win.

"We know we've got to beat Watford and as Preston proved down here, teams with nothing to play for tend to relax.

"Obviously there is that element of fear about us. I think that showed in the first half against Sheffield Wednesday.

"We were a bit edgy and not sure which way to play, whether to pass it or put it in behind them. Come ten to five on Saturday if we've given everything, got the victory and are still down then we can do no more.

"People look at what has happened at the end of the season, but you have got to look at the start of the season. Obviously it has been uphill from there."

The League table since Coppell arrived in October suggests Albion would have stayed up comfortably if he had been appointed from the start of the season.

They have a better record during his time in charge than eight teams, including Watford and Stoke, and it puts them six points clear of the relegation zone.

Even Coppell has not been able to do anything about the pattern of poor results against the other strugglers.

Albion have drawn four and lost five against the other sides in the bottom six ahead of the last day visit to Grimsby.

It would be ironic if they were to beat them without it mattering.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Palace chief executive Phil Alexander has put forward a proposal, discussed by all 72 League clubs at a meeting at Leicester today, to increase the number of teams involved in the play-offs from four to six.