Jason Steele was proud that his hard work paid off after he kept a clean sheet in his first Premier League start under Roberto De Zerbi.
The 31-year-old was preferred in goal to Robert Sanchez to make his first top-flight start since November 2021 and two excellent first-half saves enabled him to keep a keep clean sheet in Saturday’s 4-0 win over West Ham United.
“It means everything to me to play,” he said. “People at the club know I have worked ever so hard, I give it my all every day so I’m over the moon to be part of such a great performance.
“I found out I was playing on Friday morning and my parents managed to come down to watch which was nice. I have been very patient but to reach this level you have to sacrifice a lot and I still feel I have a lot to give.”
Steele was delighted to be part of such an impressive performance, especially after Albion’s last two games had yielded just a single point.
“We played really well from start to finish,” he added. “It was a great win which we needed after the last couple of league games when we have suffered a bit results-wise.
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“I think 4-0 told the story of the game. West Ham have got some unbelievable talent and threats so you know they will have moments during the game but I think we weathered them really well. We won the ball in a lot of good areas and even scoring from a set-piece with Joel’s goal was massive for us. We work on set-pieces a lot and it was good to see it come off.
“We know that teams can be a threat on the counter because we work hard at sustaining attacks. Opposition teams will always have moments in Premier League games and it was important for me to stay in the moment and do my job. We have a lot of the ball and you are open to transition, so you have to be ready.”
Albion are eighth but just seven points off fourth-placed Tottenham with three games in hand.”
“We have to keep working hard collectively,” added Steele. “We know what our targets are for the season and we need to back up today with a massive performance at Leeds next Saturday now.”