Graham Potter is aware of the tough test that his side face at Leicester City tonight, but his sole focus is making sure Albion pick up where they left off against Arsenal.
The head coach agrees that Saturday’s 2-1 win over Arsenal – Albion’s first of 2020 – could turn out to be a pivotal moment in the season, but only if his players can maintain that momentum over the remaining eight games, starting against the third-placed Foxes.
He said, “We’re in this business to get results and when you don’t do that for a time it does test you. We’d done a lot of stuff well but when you aren’t winning it doesn’t really matter - you can’t say anything, you’ve just got to keep your head down and keep working.
“Getting that first win for a while was obviously important but just because we’ve won a game it doesn’t change that much. We have to keep getting results, we have to keep fighting.”
Tonight will be Albion’s first experience of the behind-closed-doors environment away from home and while that means being adaptable, Potter knows that the fundamentals are still the same in terms of his team’s approach.
He said, “You have to look at the external factors - the opposition, the environment you’re going to - a little bit but the most important thing for us is to set up in a way that gives us a chance to win and if not win to take something from the game.
“That’s how we should approach it - always focusing on your team and what your team needs to do and make sure we’re organised and have an understanding of what we’re trying to achieve.”
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Leicester have an eight-point cushion in the race for a Champions League place and striker Jamie Vardy will be looking to score his 100th Premier League goal this evening. But the Foxes have other threats, as Potter acknowledged.
“Jamie Vardy is a top player and even if you have a plan for a top player he can still produce something. He was incredible at the Amex earlier this season and I've got a huge amount of respect for what he can do," said Potter.
“But they've got others who can cause problems. You have to defend well against them because, as good as Jamie is, there will be players that can pop up and hurt you if you don't do your job properly.”
One thing that did please the head coach against Arsenal was how strongly his team finished the game. It’s a quick turnaround for the squad but with 20 players involved on match days and the likes of Steven Alzate and Alireza Jahanbakhsh also available there are quality options if Potter wants to freshen things up tonight.
He added, “Saturday’s game was quite fast from the start. I’m not sure that was what we necessarily wanted but it’s pleasing that the guys maintained those levels for 90-plus minutes, so credit to them and the staff that we competed so well after a such a long and difficult period.
“[Rotation] is something we have to consider, of course. But we have no injury problems and the guys have recovered well. We will assess everyone again and pick the team that we think is the right one to do the best we can.”