Club News

Jones: I can rely on Amalfitano

Right-back praises midfielder's all-round game

BILLY Jones reckons he is lucky to have Morgan Amalfitano playing in front of him in Albion's XI - after just three games together.

The deadline-day loan signing is unbeaten in his three Barclays Premier League appearances for the Baggies, scoring twice and claiming one assist.

And Jones insists Amalfitano's defensive work is just as impressive as his attacking prowess.

“Morgan is great," he said.

"You can give him the ball with someone tight to him and he can deal with that.

“And he is a master at wriggling out of awkward situations, which he proved a number of times on Saturday when it looked like he might have taken one touch too many and got tackled.

“He always seems to get away from a player.

“But it’s not only that.

"From a defensive point of view he really works hard, putting pressure on the full-back and tracking back.

“I am enjoying playing with him and I think any right-back in this league would enjoy playing with him.”

Amalfitano's sparkling individual goal opened the scoring in Saturday's 2-1 win at Manchester United before he set up Saido Berahino's winner.

And Jones admits the Old Trafford encounter is one for his scrapbook.

“It’s got to be up there among the most memorable matches I have ever played in," he added.

“But it was well-deserved. 

"Even though we haven’t had the best of starts we believed in ourselves and that was the message from the gaffer.

“He told us to believe we could beat one of these top-four teams, so we’re delighted.

“It was a great team performance and there were some great individual performances, people could see that with the goals we scored.

“I saw Morgan’s great nutmeg and watched him go through, then I thought ‘why is he taking so long before he takes the strike?’

“Then he gave De Gea ‘the hips’ and dinked it over him, which just shows what a quality player he is and what a good addition he has been to the squad and will carry on being.

“Saido’s was just a great strike, but if you work with Saido every day and see what a great finisher and great striker of the ball he is, that’s not a surprise.

“I was really happy for both of them to score two memorable goals at Old Trafford.

"Now that's back-to-back wins, which is massive in the Premier League.

“We are going into a tough game against Arsenal but we will go into it with confidence, and if we come out like we did on Saturday with a great team performance, we might just win again."