West Brom's Chris Brunt eager to get match sharp
Chris Brunt is looking forward to getting his match sharpness back by crossing the white line for the first time this pre-season.
After a gruelling week of fitness in the Austrian Alps, the Baggies kick off their preparations with a match against Czech champions Slavia Prague in Kumberg today (5pm local time).
Brunt, who didn't play a minute of pre-season last summer because of the knee injury that ruled him out of Euro 2016, is looking forward to getting his edge back.
"The lads will be wanting to get through their first set of minutes," he said. "It's been a while since some of the boys played but a lot of us had games in June and over the summer break so it hasn't been as long.
"Our week has had a heavy fitness focus on it so it'll be nice to get out there, have a touch of the ball and get rid of some rustiness."
Slavia Prague have been busy in the transfer market this summer, having signed veteran Portuguese midfielder Danny and experienced Turkish player Halin Altintop.
The Czech champions have already played five warm-up games and their match against the Baggies is their penultimate friendly ahead of the start of their season in late July.
"We know it'll be a tough game because they are the champions of their country and they will probably be a couple of weeks ahead of us fitness wise," said Brunt.
"It'll be a tough test but we've seen against PSG last year and Salzburg the year before that these games are tough.
"The result will take care of itself and it's not a life or death situation to get a result.
"Saying that, whenever you step across the white line as professional footballers you have that edge to want to win any game."
Pulis is likely to blood several youngsters during the game, including 18-year-old defenders Dara O'Shea and Max Melbourne.
Meanwhile, minutes for James Morrison, Hal Robson-Kanu and Gareth McAuley may be limited following their summer injuries.
"It's important not to pick up any knocks after the week we have had," said Brunt. "It's not easy getting up at 5:30am and being told to get up hills. It's tough at the time.
"But you can't afford to be off the pace come August."
