Lewis Dunk comes up against former team-mate Dan Burn at St James’ Park today and isn’t surprised at the impact Burn has made since moving to Newcastle in January.
“We knew he was going be good there - in the dressing room and on the pitch,” said the skipper.
“He’s a loss for us but I'm buzzing for him to get his chance to play for his boyhood club and get a chance to go home and play his football there.
“He’s showing already what a leader he is in the dressing room. They look more solid and he's been a great addition for them. Hopefully he doesn't have a good game on Saturday.”
Albion have lost their last three in the Premier League to drop to tenth and face a Newcastle side who are unbeaten in seven and have moved away from relegation trouble, but the skipper says there’s no need to be unduly concerned.
“If you look back at our last few games I think Burnley was the only disappointing one,” he said. “Even against Villa last weekend we performed okay – we weren’t where we can be or at our very best but we were in the game and we did enough [to get a result].
Dunk, who recently made his 350th Albion appearance, is in bullish mood and says the players will have honest conversations with themselves if they ever feel that standards are slipping.
“I’m the captain but we've got some big characters in the dressing room and a lot of experience,” added Dunk.
“We talk about things with the manager in meetings but then we have conversations in the changing room ourselves where everyone does the talking - it's not just me.
“We talk like men and sometimes have it out with each other but we're not at that stage where we need to do that. I'm not calling meetings where we're panicking about the position we're in or what what's going on in the club. We know what we're about and we're still confident we can push on.”