Striker hoping for change in fortunes against Hammers
SHANE Long has urged his team-mates to keep looking up the table as they aim to get back to winning ways against West Ham on Sunday (ko 4pm) - and insisted fortune has deserted them in recent games.The Baggies have suffered three successive top-flight defeats for the first time since January 2011.
But they are still riding high in sixth place after 16 games – just behind fourth spot on goal difference and only three points adrift of third-placed Chelsea.
And Long does not intend to dwell on the losses at Swansea and Arsenal or the harsh 1-0 home reverse against Stoke, which was sandwiched in between.
“We don’t dwell on it too much,” said the Ireland striker.
“The only bad performance we really put in was the first half against Swansea.
“Against Stoke it was just a horrible game and at Arsenal two dubious decisions that led to penalties cost us.
“We will learn from our mistakes but we’re confident we can get back winning pretty soon.
“Maybe we took our foot off the gas a little bit and that midweek game at Swansea knocked us back a bit, but against Stoke and at Arsenal we felt we could win the game.
“There aren’t many times you go to a place like Arsenal feeling you can win, but we did.
“So we’ve still got that confidence in us and hopefully we will get that break, a little rub of the green, so we can go into the game against West Ham and maybe get that winning feeling back.
“We’re still fairly comfortable in the league but we want to be looking at the teams above us and trying to hang onto them rather than looking down.”
The 11th-placed Hammers will also be looking to bounce back following their 3-2 defeat by Liverpool on Sunday.
And the Hawthorns encounter will pit the second-best home defensive record in the Barclays Premier League against the team with the third-worst goalscoring figures on the road.
“West Ham are doing pretty well this season and they’re going to give their all, but hopefully we can keep them quiet on the day and cause them problems,” Long added.
“You can’t change what’s happened before and we will train hard this week, the gaffer will have us well prepared for West Ham at home, and we will forget about the last three results.
“I feel like I’ve played well this season, but you’re going to win games and lose games during a season.
“We’re not dwelling on the fact it’s three in a row.
"You could lose them in between some wins but it’s still three losses.
“We feel like we’re playing well, we’re confident on the ball, and once we get that rub of the green results will start going our way and it will all be forgotten about.”