West Brom captain Chris Brunt keeping a cool head behind enemy lines
Chris Brunt will be keeping his head down on the school run this week – as the experienced Albion captain focuses on denying Villa a second successive trip to Wembley.
Brunt lives in Sutton Coldfield, which he admits is mainly inhabited by Villa fans, but the long-serving Baggies midfielder doesn’t mind being behind enemy lines.
At 34-years-old, Brunt has seen it all before, and he’s remaining calm ahead of two fiercely-contested games in the play-off semi-final.
He knows Villa are on form, but disputes their tags as slight favourites, saying neither side has a ‘god-given right’ to get to Wembley and both have to earn it.
“I live in Sutton Coldfield, there’s a lot of Villa fans there so I’ll be keeping my head down this week,” he smiles.
“I know people on the school run who are big Villa fans, you don’t see many West Brom fans in that area.
“Their form going into the play-offs has been great, you can’t get away from that.
“I don’t think for any one moment they think they’re already in the final because they’re going to have two tough games against us.
“It’s not their God-given right to get to Wembley. They were there last year but it doesn’t mean they’re going to get there again. It’s down to us to make sure they don’t.
“Just because we got relegated from the Premier League and have parachute payments does not give us the right to bounce straight back up. You have to earn that.”
The Baggies captain was rested against Derby last weekend ahead of the play-offs, and he’s urged his team-mates to relish the two games coming up.
“You don’t get an opportunity to play in games like this very often,” he said. “There are lads who could go 20 years in their careers and not win anything or get the chance to play in a semi-final.
“When you’re a bit older you can be a bit more relaxed about it. There’s not an awful lot here that I haven’t seen before, hopefully that can be a help to the lads around it.
“People can sometimes get a bit carried away or over-excited or nervous, but at the end of the day it’s just two football matches played over two legs.
“If we play the best we can as a team, over the two games we’re more than capable of getting to the final.
“That’s all you’ve got to rely on, that everyone in the team is doing the same thing and all pulling in the same direction. I’m sure by the time Saturday comes we’ll be ready.”
