West Brom: The hard work starts now - Di Matteo

Oct 20 2010 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail

ROBERTO Di Matteo brushed aside West Brom's impressive results against the Premier League’s Big Guns, insisting: Our hard work starts now.

The Baggies were handed an uneviable first four away games with back-to-back trips to Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United.

Included among those was a home game against Champions League qualifiers Spurs.

Yet Albion have taken five points from last season’s top-four finishers, including an impressive victory at the Emirates and a hard-earned draw at Old Trafford.

Albion are in sixth spot after eight games, on 12 points, but Di Matteo believes the period leading up to Christmas will perhaps be even more crucial to the club’s campaign.

They take on Fulham this weekend before facing trips to Blackpool, West Ham, Wigan and Everton during November.

During the next month they will also host Manchester City and Stoke.

December, meanwhile, includes back-to-back derby weekends, at Villa Park and the visit of Wolves.

Di Matteo said: “There are a lot of people excited at the moment, especially surrounding the club.

“We and the players know where we stand and what we need to have a successful season.