Skipper hoping Baggies' luck over Black Cats holds out
CHRIS Brunt hopes Albion’s Indian sign over Sunderland will help them deliver their first Barclays Premier League win of the campaign when the two sides meet on Saturday (ko 3pm).The Baggies are unbeaten in their last seven top-flight encounters with the Black Cats – a run that includes six victories and 19 goals to their name.
And Brunt is preparing for the Hawthorns clash spurred on by a well-earned point in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Fulham thanks to Albion's opening strike of the season.
“We’re at home and we have a good record against Sunderland so hopefully things will fall into place,” he said.
“That’s not always the case but I’m sure we’ll do a lot of work this week and hopefully we will have everybody available this week.
“I don’t think goals will be a problem for us.
“There has been a big thing made of it, but the important thing was that we looked like scoring on Saturday.
“Against Swansea we looked more threatening than we did in the first two games, so we’re improving.
“It’s a long season so we need to keep improving over the next few weeks.
“It’s important that we get a win sooner rather than later and it would be nice to get one this week in a home game.
“Our two away performances have been pretty good but it’s important we pick up our home form because that was our bread and butter last year.
“Most of our points came at home so we need to address that, but with the players we’ve brought in we’ve recognised the fact we haven’t scored many goals and, if we don't score now, it will definitely not be for the lack of creativity in the team with the players we’ve got now.”
Brunt also praised Boaz Myhill and goalscorer Gareth McAuley for their part in bringing home a point from Craven Cottage.
“I think overall we were pretty decent and on another day we could have got all three points,” the Northern Ireland international added.
“Our finishing wasn’t as good as it could’ve been and Bo made a good save at 1-0 that kept us in the game, so that was a big moment.
“But people have seen how dangerous we are from set-pieces over the last couple of years and there were a couple in the first half that the lads were disappointed they didn’t get on the end of.
“We’ve got players that attack the ball really well and Gareth scored a couple of goals for Northern Ireland before this.
“As soon as I put the ball in I knew he was heading it and where it was ending up.
“It was a great header and he has proved how dangerous he is at set-pieces.
“He judges the flight of the ball really well and he usually gets his head on things at both ends of the pitch.
“If we had come away with nothing we would have been really disappointed because we felt we deserved something.
“Set-pieces are a big part of the way we play and a big part generally in the Premier League.
“There are a lot of goals scored from set-pieces as Fulham showed with their goal, so it’s important you do your jobs properly.
“Ninety per cent of the time we do.”