Brunt: Arsenal win shows West Brom can ‘beat anyone’

Matt Stead

Chris Brunt believes victory over Arsenal on Saturday proves that West Brom are “capable of beating anyone” this season.

Tony Pulis’ side are halfway through a daunting six-game run against Leicester, Man United, Arsenal, West Ham, Spurs and Liverpool.

Five of those six teams are in the top six, and the other match is a trip to Anfield to face Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

But Albion defender Brunt says he isn’t worried about playing the big teams, and Saturday’s victory over Arsenal has taken the pressure off the club.

“We’ve got a lot of tough games coming up over the next three or four weeks and that maybe takes a little bit of pressure off you if you’ve got a result in one of them,” said Brunt in the Express and Star.

“On our day we’re capable of beating anybody, hopefully that can be the start of a bit of a run.

“We started well after the last international break so hopefully we can go to West Ham next week and get a result.”

Pulis’ side have now won three of their last five games and Saturday’s victory means they have now beaten Man United, Chelsea, and Arsenal in the last six months.

Brunt had an eventful afternoon on Saturday, with the left-back’s floated free-kick met by James Morrison to guide over Petr Cech, cancelling out Olivier Giroud’s opener.

It was also his push on Alexis Sanchez which gave away the penalty eight minutes from time. The Northern Irishman also picked up his fifth yellow card of the season for the challenge and will miss this Sunday’s game at Upton Park.

“I think we were a little disappointed with the goal in the first half because we started the game reasonably well and conceded the goal from a set play,” said Brunt.

“We pride ourselves on how well we defend them and how well we do them attacking wise.

“But credit to the lads we dug in and played pretty well in the first half. When we were on the break we created some good chances.

“It was nice to go in at half-time 2-1 up and when teams are throwing everything at us we know what we’re doing.”