Roberto De Zerbi praised Albion’s fans after his side moved back into the top six with a 1-0 win over AFC Bournemouth.
Kaoru Mitoma had the Amex on its feet after winning the game with an 87th-minute winner but Albion fans also gave a terrific reception to Moises Caicedo when he came on in the second half.
Asked about the ovation for Caicedo, De Zerbi said, “I have to thank the fans because together we are stronger. Moises is a very important player for us the fans understand that. Together we can try to achieve our target. I don’t way to say what it is, but we can try and we will fight until the end.”
De Zerbi had warned that Bournemouth would be a tough nut to crack so their resilience didn’t surprise him.
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“I explained before the game the difficulty of it,” he added. “I’m really happy with the result and the way we played, it was one of the best performances in my time at the club because of the quality of our play.
“In the second half we played a lot of young players with two 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old on the pitch at the end.”
Mitoma’s goal was his third in three games and De Zerbi felt the Japanese winger was always a threat. “We know Mitoma well. He didn’t play as well as in other games but he’s always dangerous to play against because he knows the way to score, to get into a one-v-one situation and be important to us.”
The head coach hopes Evan Ferguson will return to training next week and said that Danny Welbeck had come off because of fatigue.