Tuesday 3 March 2015 19:07, UK
West Brom midfield duo Craig Gardner and Chris Brunt are eagerly looking forward to the midweek showdown with Aston Villa.
Albion head into the game with their Midlands rivals on the back of a five-match unbeaten run which includes four clean sheets on the bounce, while relegation threatened Villa have five defeats in their last six matches.
“It’s a massive game for both teams on Tuesday and we want to keep our run going,” said Gardner, who started his career with Villa.
“Tuesday is going to be a massive game for me and a massive game for West Brom and a massive game for Villa so it’s going to be a thriller.
“Obviously they’ve got a new manager on board in Tim Sherwood and that will improve them because he is a top-class manager. Villa are a good side with some very good players and we’ll see what happens. Hopefully they will survive.”
On Saturday Saido Berahino scored after just 71 seconds and Albion kept fifth-placed Southampton at bay for the remainder of the match with a fine defensive display.
“It was a big thing for the gaffer when he first came in,” said Baggies captain Brunt. “He talked about keeping clean sheets between now and the end of the season and no matter how badly or how well you are playing if you are not conceding goals you have always got a chance of winning games.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game today but we were effective, we defended well.
“I just think we are probably focusing a lot more on the defending stuff we need to do to keep the ball out of our net.
“Obviously we’d all like to bomb forward and play total football but the reality of the situation we are in is that we are not going to be able to do that.
“The results have been kind to us today with the three points we have got we have put a bit of distance between ourselves and the teams below us so we will be looking to go to Villa Park on Tuesday night and concentrate on that and see if we can extend the unbeaten run we have been on.
“Villa are having a tough time at the minute they haven’t scored many goals. I know they haven’t scored again today but that’s got to come to an end sometime. It’s up to us to go there on Tuesday night and make sure it’s not against us.
“It’s going to be an exciting week for people in the Midlands.”
