Opposition View: West Bromwich Albion
- LCFC Radio spoke to BBC WM’s Rob Gurney ahead of Monday’s clash with West Bromwich Albion
- Gurney says West Brom have had only one ‘really disappointing’ result this season – a 3-1 loss at Brighton
- Tune in from 7pm on Monday for FREE commentary of the game on LCFC Radio
The Baggies started the campaign on the front foot, beating both Bournemouth and Burnley 1-0, before defeating Accrington Stanley 3-1 in the Carabao Cup.
Since then, Tony Pulis’ men have recorded draws against Stoke City, West Ham United and Watford, while defeats have also come against Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Gurney told LCFC Radio ahead of the game: “Albion’s start to the season has been pretty mixed, they got off to a really good start, two tremendous back-to-back 1-0 wins.
“It’s been a little bit stop-start since then, they ended just before the last international break with a 2-2 draw at home to Watford.
“They were winning the game 2-0 at one stage and Watford equalised in the 95th minute in the end and that’s purely because, for me, Albion sat back too deep in the second half and almost invited Watford onto them.
“They went to Arsenal and were very unlucky there, we all remember the Jay Rodriguez penalty incident where [Shkodran] Mustafi put the challenge in and should have been penalised but wasn’t by the referee – they went on to lose.
“The only time they have really disappointed though so far has been at Brighton where they were badly beaten in the end 3-1.”
Gurney believes Pulis has a strong squad this term and his target, similar to previous seasons, remains a mid-table finish.
He added: “Tony Pulis did tremendously well to get them half way up the Premier League last season off the back of a poor end to the campaign.
“They essentially got to 40 points by the end of February when they beat Bournemouth but didn’t pick up many points after that at all.
“Now he’s got a much bigger squad this season than he did at the end of last season so, he hasn’t really got the excuse now that he hasn’t got many players to choose from.
“In fact, automatic picks like Claudio Yacob and Jake Livermore, who has been in the England squad, haven’t been even getting onto the pitch, or the bench in Yacob’s case in the last game.
“He’s got a much better squad of players, the best squad that he’s had certainly in his two-and-a-half, nearly three years in charge, so the fans are looking for them to push on and play with a bit more style.
“I think from a club point of view as long as they remain in the Premier League, that seems to be the benchmark now, as long as they stay in the Premier League anything else on top of that is seen as a bonus.”
Gurney highlighted the threat of both Matt Phillips and Jay Rodriguez heading into the game, with the latter scoring a fine goal in pre-season against the Foxes out in Hong Kong.
“For me, the danger men come in a couple of guises really,” said Gurney. “Matt Phillips on the right-hand side, who got the winning goal Leicester fans will remember last season.
“That really was lift off for him last season, he’d been dropped the previous week going into that Leicester game at the start of November.
“From then on until the end of February he was absolutely on fire and was a really key figure for West Bromwich Albion towards the tail end of last season.
“If I’m honest he is still trying to rediscover that form a little bit so far this season but on his day he’s a tremendous talent.
“Jay Rodriguez also has come in and performed really well at the start of his West Bromwich Albion career, the big signing from Southampton during the summer.
“He’s scored a couple of goals already and works extremely hard whether he’s played, as he was in the Watford game, in the no. 10 role or out-wide Tony Pulis has used him as well.”