West Brom manager Steve Clarke is eager to face his old club Chelsea when the European champions visit the Hawthorns this Saturday.
Steve Clarke believes that this Saturday’s clash against the Blues will prove to be another stern mental and physical challenge for his side, but believes that a result will proved a good foundation for his men to build the rest of their season on.
West Brom have enjoyed their best ever start to a Premier League season, where they have managed wins over the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 and draws against Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
The Baggies boss replaced Roy Hodgson following his departure for the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 national team’s managerial position, and Clarke has breathed in new found life at the club.
The Scot signed a number of players both on permanent and loan deals, and has truly strengthened the West Brom squad. He acquired the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ben-Foster-c7445, and has helped the club hold
on to existing key players such as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jonas-c18967 Olsson and Zoltan Gera.
The manager has compared the upcoming encounter against the European Champions with the game his men played with Manchester City last month. City had gone down a man, but still managed a 1-2 victory over Clarke’s men in a last-gasp finish. This game marked
West Brom’s first home defeat of the season.
This time around, Clarke is targeting a win against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786, and is confident that his side are more than capable of pulling an upset. The manager spent 11 years at Chelsea, and is looking forward to the encounter.
Speaking to the club’s official website, he said:
“It is a good benchmark. It’s not dissimilar to when Manchester City came a few weeks ago and we wanted to challenge ourselves against them.”
“We lost the game but we came out of the game with a higher self-esteem, because we knew we’d given them a really tough game."
“We’re going to go out there on Saturday and work as hard as we can to make it really difficult for Chelsea. That’s the way we’ve set out every game this year and so far it has worked out well.”
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