Dale Stephens is confident Albion will be in the best possible shape when the new Premier League season kicks off.
Graham Potter’s players had just three weeks off after the extended 2019-20 campaign finished on July 26 before they returned to pre-season training.
And Stephens has been enjoying the return to work as much as any of the 19 pre-seasons he has done during his professional career.
“Pre-season is exciting,” he said. “You have new signings to meet and new ideas to get used to, but the main thing is to get in shape. Normally we’d have 6-7 weeks but I feel fine. We had fitness programmes to do in the last week we had off so I was on the treadmill every day on holiday.
“I thought our fitness levels after we came back after lockdown were really high and all the lads are in good shape.”
After spending a few days at the American Express Elite Performance Centre, the squad are taking part in a training camp this week.
“You can get a lot of training done but you also spend time together as a squad which is important,” said Stephens. “They can be long days but there is a good bond in the team and we can get together off the pitch as well.”