Club News

Ridgewell: It's no fluke

Left-back says Albion deserve to be where they are and relishes Wigan test

LIAM Ridgewell has urged his team-mates to prove the doubters wrong and show Albion deserve to be where they are in the table as they prepare for Saturday’s trip to Wigan (ko 3pm).

The Baggies shot up to fifth following Monday’s convincing 2-0 win over Southampton.

They now face eight games in 42 days and Ridgewell is hoping they can maintain their momentum in the build-up to Christmas, starting at the DW Stadium.

“I think we deserve to be there,” he said.

“In fact I think we deserve to have even more points, to be honest.

“We’ve done really well but the main thing is to keep that going and show people it’s not just the start of the season.

“We are going into a lot of games now with the Christmas period coming up and we’ve got to try to keep it going and keep picking up points.”

The Baggies left-back added: “Monday was a very big game because it was probably the biggest test for the new team since Roy left.

“I thought we did it very well and came through very solidly.

“We didn’t really feel lots of pressure.

“Pressure is playing against Manchester United at Old Trafford when you’re second from bottom in the league.

“Monday was a night when we just had to make sure we did the right things, start well, get the first goal and make sure they didn’t come back at us.
 
“If we’d lost people would have started saying it was a fluke start to the season, blah, blah, blah.

“But we know what we’re all about, we know we’re a good team and hopefully we can keep showing that.

“We are sitting fifth and doing very well but we know our objective at the start of the season was to stay in this league and that is still our objective now.

“Whatever comes after that is a bonus - but we will look to keep it going.”
 
The Latics have won only one of their five Barclays Premier League outings on home turf this season.

But Roberto Martinez’ 13th-placed men have won their last two games, including a 1-0 win at Tottenham at the weekend.

“They seem to have come into a bit of form. They are doing very well at the moment, and they play good football,” said Ridgewell.

“We will be going up there full of confidence and I’m sure they will be confident as well, so hopefully it will be a good game.

“I wouldn’t say the pressure is off. We are fifth in the league so people will be saying we should be going up there and doing well.

“So, we’ve got to make sure we do the business and come away with a positive result.

“We know what we’re all about and everyone connected with the club is very level-headed.

“The only people getting carried away with it will be people outside the camp.

“We know what we’re doing and we’ll carry on doing it.”