Roy Hodgson believes West Brom must strengthen their squad if they are to finally banish their yo-yo tag and become an established Barclays Premier League force. Hodgson has already virtually guaranteed that Albion can look forward for the first time to three successive years of Premier League football after see-sawing between the top two divisions. But Hodgson, who comes up against former employers QPR on Saturday, knows the Baggies have to continue to bring in quality signings. When asked what is required to take Albion to the next level, Hodgson said: "It will be to do with player personnel. We have to strengthen our playing personnel.
"We've had great help from the players at the club in my short time here and they've done an excellent job. "If we are going to help those players get even better, and the club to become even more stable, we will have to make certain we continue to improve the quality of our playing squad. "It is on the playing field, during those 38 matches, that count and the main protagonists at a club are the players. They will decide your fate. "They will decide whether West Brom become an even better club in the future or whether we sink down again to the `boing boing', yo-yoing type of club. "I was hoping we would take one of the `boings' out of it and become the boing club!" Hodgson refutes the suggestion that splashing out in the transfer market guarantees success. He said: "That is not necessarily the case because some of the players we've got who have done well haven't cost a lot of money. "It means looking very seriously and researching the transfer market but it doesn't totally equate with money. "There is no guarantee that Manchester City, for all the money they've spent, will win the title or the money Liverpool have spent will mean they will be that much better. It is not as simple as that. "If it was that simple, we might as well not bother to play. "We might as well as look at the budgets and say `they've won it because they've spent the most money, you've spent the least so are relegated'."
Skipper Chris Brunt and left-back Liam Ridgewell are both expected to be fit. The duo both missed the midweek 4-0 defeat away to Manchester City with minor knee problems. Hodgson rotated his squad at the Etihad Stadium and strikers Marc-Antoine Fortune and Peter Odemwingie will come back into contention to start against Rangers. Midfielders Zoltan Gera and James Morrison (both knee) and right-back Steven Reid (foot) remain on the injury list.
Mark Hughes says his QPR side are striving to maintain the momentum they created against Swansea and take that into their trip to The Hawthorns. QPR equalled their biggest win of the season with an impressive 3-0 victory over the Swans in midweek. But despite climbing two points clear of the relegation zone, Hughes remains wary of a potential dip in form following an encouraging display at Loftus Road. "Getting three points was really important and hopefully we can take that confidence into the weekend," said Hughes. "We had a similar situation where we had a great midweek performance and result against Liverpool, then we had an away game when we didn't really equip ourselves that well against Sunderland. "So we want to improve on that and capitalise on the confidence that we've gained from the game against Swansea."
The win gave Rangers their third victory on the trot at home, but it is away from Loftus Road where their problems lie. QPR's last win in the league on their travels was a 3-2 victory over Stoke last November, and it is a record Hughes is looking to set straight. "We enjoy playing at Loftus Road in front of our fans, they've been great with us and really driven us on. "What we need to do now is transfer that form to our travels, because that's been a problem for us. "If we address that in the games we have left then that's obviously going to help our situation. "I just sense this week, on the back of the performance at Old Trafford and the midweek performance against Swansea, we can go into the game with big confidence and get something out of it." Hughes has a couple of injury concerns ahead of the trip to the midlands, with strikers Jamie Mackie and Bobby Zamora both doubtful. Mackie and fellow frontman Zamora have both picked up knocks, leaving Hughes light up front should the duo be declared unfit. Djibril Cisse is also out, serving the final game of his four-match ban, but Shaun Derry is free to return in midfield having served his one-match suspension.
West Brom V QPR - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game live.
Source: PA
