West Brom defender Curtis Davies has admitted West Brom have learnt lessons from their recent shock reversal by Sunderland which “made us realise we can’t just expect to turn up and win”.
The Baggies have claimed some notable scalps this season including Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham. Wigan and Blackburn – all sides in the top half of the Barclays Premiership.
But their record against sides in the bottom half is poor and has handicapped their hopes of moving further away from the relegation zone.
Now they face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday with Davies insisting the Baggies will show the right attitude.
He said: “If you look at where Fulham are in the league, you would say it is a game we could possibly win. If we get the three points it would put us in good stead to pull away from the bottom three.
“But we realise we can’t just expect to turn up and win. To be honest we didn’t deserve to win the game against Sunderland and we are not fooling ourselves.
“Maybe that game has made us stronger and, against teams we’re expected to beat, we have to realise it’s not just going to happen for us. We have to work for it and hopefully we can sort that out on Saturday.”
Davies is confident Albion can cope with the absence of key defender Paul Robinson – sent off at Craven Cottage in the Carling Cup tie between the teams – after incurring five bookings.
He said: “Losing Robbo is definitely a big blow because Steve Watson is injured at the moment as well.
“I don’t who is going to play but whatever happens we’ll still have a strong defensive line-up.
“We’ll miss Robbo but, as big a player as he is, we’ve got enough strength in depth in the squad to adapt.”
