Albion boss Steve Coppell wants a Christmas present of three desperately needed points at Norwich to reward his players' sacrifices over the festive period.

The relegation-threatened Seagulls launch a critical spurt of three League games in the space of seven days at Norwich on Boxing Day.

The players will be training on Christmas Day morning and travelling to Norfolk that evening as they try to revive their survival bid.

Coppell, pre-occupied with the dogfight at the foot of the First Division, said: "It's difficult to enjoy Christmas in the way other people do.

"My brother is in the building trade. He is off for two weeks and it seems more and more that people are getting large chunks of time off at the time of year you want time off.

"We've got games over a tight period of time. The only way we can get points from those games is if we prepare properly and that means sacrificing the food, the drink, keeping regular hours and your eye on the ball as opposed to the bottom of the Christmas tree.

"We are not asking for sympathy but it's a different time of year for footballers. We will be training Christmas morning and then in the evening we leave to go to Norwich. It's a fair old journey for us, three and a half hours. It's just too far to risk going on the day.

"I hope the players will have Christmas lunch with their families and then the blinkers will be on to prepare for the game against Norwich. That would be the best Christmas present of all if we can get three points there."

Albion are playing catch-up again. Friday night's 1-0 home defeat by Micky Adams' Leicester combined with Saturday's 2-0 home win for Grimsby against rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday means they are six points adrift of safety again.

Midfielder Richard Carpenter said: "Christmas is just another day for us. We have got a busy period and we are going to be applying ourselves to get the results we desperately need."

It was a mixed weekend for Albion's three youngsters out on loan. Daniel Marney made his debut as a 76th-minute substitute in Southend's 3-1 defeat at Torquay.

Shaun Wilkinson was introduced after 55 minutes of Chesterfield's 1-0 home defeat against Oldham in the Second Division.

Adam Virgo was also a 55th-minute replacement for Exeter in their 2-2 draw at Oxford. Injury-plagued former Albion forward Lee Steele came off the bench to score a debut equaliser for the home side.