Steve Clarke says West Brom must prepare for an Arsenal backlash on Saturday

06 December 2012 12:01
Steve Clarke says West Brom must prepare for an Arsenal backlash ahead of his side's trip to north London on Saturday.

The Baggies sit fifth in the table after their flying start to the season, which stuttered in recent week following back-to back defeats against Swansea and Stoke. Meanwhile Arsene Wenger's men find themselves 10th after suffering their worst start to a season for 18 years.

"The way the game is now means no matter what club you're at, if your team is not doing well you're going to get criticism," said Clarke.

"That's the state of play with Arsenal at the moment.

"The team hasn't been firing as maybe people thought they would do, especially after the start they had.

"They've introduced a few new players this year and it's maybe just taken the team a little bit longer to find a rhythm than it did before.

"But nobody can question the record of Mr Wenger. It's a great record, he has done fantastically for the football club and I'm sure the club will stick with him.

"It's a game that we have to be positive about and look forward to.

"The last two games have been frustrating for us for different reasons but going down to the Emirates is a different challenge.

"Arsenal are probably not playing as well as they would like and they've had some reverses so they'll be fired up to try to turn their season around.

Source: team_talk