Premier League: Chris Brunt admits West Brom must contain Christian Benteke if they are to beat Aston Villa
Thursday 11 December 2014 13:47, UK
West Brom captain Chris Brunt believes stopping Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke will hold the key to winning Saturday's Midlands derby at The Hawthorns.
The Belgian forward has helped Villa to back-to-back wins following a seven-month lay off from a ruptured Achilles and scored his first goal of the season in their 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace last week.
Brunt, who is a doubt with a hamstring injury, believes the Baggies can take all three points in the derby as long as they can limit Benteke.
When asked how they will deal with Villa frontman, Brunt joked: "Just kick him.
"You just have to watch the stuff when we played against them last year, especially the one at Villa Park, where he caused us mayhem.
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"He's a big miss for anyone, a striker of that quality. He brings so many different attributes, he's good in the air, a strong guy and he can score goals.He's a good all-round striker.
You just have to watch the stuff when we played against them last year, especially the one at Villa Park, where he caused us mayhem.
"For them to lose someone like that for so long was a big blow but to have him back is going to give you and others around you a lift.
"He is someone we have to contain because he is a handful."
The Baggies are desperate to beat Villa after twice throwing away 2-0 leads against their Midlands rivals last season.
Villa clawed back a two-goal deficit at The Hawthorns to earn a 2-2 draw and then stormed back from 2-0 down later in the season at Villa Park to win 4-3.
Brunt knows Albion let two golden opportunities to beat Villa last season slip through their fingers but he is confident the outcome will be different this time.
"At home we ran out of steam but the away game was ridiculously daft," said the 29-year-old, with Albion one point above the Barclays Premier League drop zone. "To go in 3-3 at half time in a Premier League game shouldn't be happening.
"We were under the new coach (Pepe Mel) at the time and things weren't falling into place and it was pretty obvious on the pitch that night.
"We were all over the place and it could have been 10-10.
"On the night Benteke caused us all sorts of problems and he's a massive danger. We are going to have to be very wary of that, seeing the damage he caused last time.
