Graham Potter has praised the professionalism of his players as they prepare for three games in eight days while uncertainty surrounding football continues.
Albion will have several players back from injury and Covid when they entertain Brentford on Boxing Day after the 11-day break since the loss to Wolves, caused by the postponement of last Saturday’s match against Manchester United.
Eleven top-flight matches have already been called off this month because of Covid cases, a figure that could rise over the next few weeks as infection rates soar.
But Potter says he and the players have no cause for complaint. “You can appreciate at the moment how tough it is for people who are losing jobs and businesses, you don’t want to be the Premier League team that starts to complain too much about the situation we find ourselves in,” he said.
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“But at the same time the players are human beings. We had a pre-season game where we had to have three team meetings because we lost players in the build-up. It’s got worse the last few weeks - before the Wolves game it was a little bit disturbing because so quickly we were getting consecutive days of positive tests.
“You start to think ‘when will this stop?’ and you wonder if you might be sending players out who are Covid-positive. It hasn’t been easy, but the guys have been really professional and as focussed as I can expect them to be as a coach and a human being. We will try our best against Brentford and we’re looking forward to the game.”
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Albion haven’t won in 11 and it’s also 11 games since they last won on Boxing Day, but the return of Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross, top scorer Neal Maupay and - providing he suffers no adverse reaction in training at the end of the week – Adam Webster, are a big boost.
“We’ve got some more good options,” added Potter. “Obviously we would prefer it if we’d had a few more wins recently but we haven’t been far away in a lot of the [eight] games that we’ve drawn, but wins are what makes people happier and that’s something we’re trying to do that against a good Brentford side who are well coached by Thomas Frank.”