And midfielder confident there's more to come from Anichebe
CAPTAIN Chris Brunt has issued a rallying call to his team-mates ahead of Sunday’s home clash with Liverpool (ko 1.30pm).
The fourth-placed Reds will arrive at The Hawthorns as the 57-goal second top scorers in the Barclays Premier League thanks in large part to the form of strike duo Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge.
And Brunt insists there can be no repeat of the below-par defending that cost the Baggies four goals in Wednesday’s 4-3 defeat by Villa if they are to get something against Brendan Rodgers’ in-form men.
“It’s going to be difficult,” he said.
“Liverpool are in a good place and they score a lot of goals.
“They’ve got two great strikers, so it’s going to be an interesting one.
“We can beat anyone on our day, we have shown that before.
“But we need to start doing it quickly before we slide down the table.”
He joked: “How are we going to handle Liverpool? You see the big bus out there? We’re just going to stick it across the goal!
“The coaching staff will look at Liverpool and determine from there how we’re going to play.
“But we can’t give Liverpool chances like that with the players they’ve got.
“If we concede four goals we’re going to lose games and we need to make sure that doesn’t happen first and foremost.”
Brunt has no doubts the Baggies dressing room contains players with the mental strength not to let their precarious position three points above the drop zone effect their performances.
And he is confident Pepe Mel’s 15th-placed men have the firepower to move up the table.
“We’ve got experienced players who have all been there and done it before so hopefully we’ve got enough in the dressing room to pull us out of it," he added.
“Once we get a win, hopefully we can turn the corner ASAP.
“But it’s going to take a lot more than what we’re doing at the moment.
“We’ve got good players and boys who can get forward and score goals.
“Victor [Anichebe] is maybe lacking a little bit of match fitness but he’s a handful.
“He holds the ball up well and backs into people and he’s a big, strong boy.
“He caused all sorts of problems for Villa for 60 or 70 minutes and if we can get him fully fit and involved he’s going to be a handful.
“He brings a lot of other people into the game and with the lads we’ve got coming on late on, like Matej [Vydra] and Saido [Berahino], and the boys coming from midfield, we have definitely got goals in the team.
“But it’s time for us to step up and start scoring more.”