Albion striker Peter Odemwingie has warned the Baggies they have lost their element of surprise.

But the Baggies top striker is hopeful a frank team meeting this week will help them get their Premier League campaign back on track at Everton tomorrow.

Roberto Di Matteo’s men head for Goodison Park keen to rebuild from a tally of just one point from their last five matches.

And Odemwingie reckons their flying start to the top-flight season had robbed Albion of the shock factor that helped them climb to fourth place in the early weeks of the season, thanks in part to an historic victory at Arsenal and a battling point at Manchester United.

But, in the wake of last weekend’s 3-0 Hawthorns defeat to Stoke, players and staff hope some straight talking at the training ground will increase their prospects of success on Merseyside.

The 29-year-old said: “The expectations are high now after a good start and teams are coming here and playing more defensively and we’re finding it more difficult now to open up teams.

“Every success has an effect and maybe we got a little bit carried away but teams now are not underestimating us and it has become more difficult.

“I don’t think we’re playing badly. We were a little bit unlucky and we had a few injuries and suspensions and that’s why I think the last few games weren’t as good.

“But I think our game is still there – we just need to add a bit of extra effort that will allow us to get the goals we had before and that made us get the points we did.

“We showed we can play and compete with any team and now teams look at us more seriously, which makes it very difficult for us now.

“But that’s something we have to learn from and be ready for because if we get back now and start playing well it will happen again.

“Next time we will now how to respond and it’s all part of learning to find some qualities that you didn’t know you had.

“It is about character now. We had a few meetings this week and how we react is what is important.

“This week we had good training sessions and I am confident that this Saturday we will come back with a minimum of one point.

“The meeting was an open discussion about how we feel as a team and whether anyone had ideas about how we can correct the situation and keep winning.

“That is what the meeting was about. The team spirit is still there are there were no quarrels, there were just a few opinions that people had and people brought them out.

“We have to now use those things to get back to where we were.”

The Baggies have failed to score in three of their last five matches but Odemwingie, who remains the club’s five-goal leading scorer, believes this week’s honest exchange of views will help Di Matteo’s side rediscover their ruthless streak.

He said: “What came out of it was that maybe in the first period we believed in some half-chances more.

“When we saw a half-chance we would still run with numbers to get forward because we believed it would bring a goal.

“Now maybe we are a little bit too patient and believe that the goal will come. We have been unlucky a little bit lately, but we’ve had a few chances and haven’t used them.

“So I think running forward with more belief that a half-chance can bring a goal is where we can succeed, so we should look for goals more.

“There are some reasons why things aren’t going as well now and it’s not about one person or one thing.

“It is a lot of little things put together. So we can still use our previous momentum.

“A few injuries and suspensions and bad luck have cost us, like at Wigan when we had a corner kick and they scored from one break and we lost the game.

“I wouldn’t say they outplayed us and a few games have been like that, when we’ve played well but a little mistake has cost us points.

“But I believe the reason no-one is really worried at the club now is because we have the players and the quality that we need.

“We just need maybe now to put ourselves under the pressure we had at the start of the season, so the over-confidence won’t continue and give us more problems.”

Odemwingie is still battling back to full fitness after the knee injury that kept him sidelined for more than a month after his flying start to life at the Hawthorns.

But, with the Toffees lying in wait tomorrow, the former Lokomotiv Moscow forward believes he is edging closer to peak condition.

He said: “I wouldn’t say I am 100 per cent yet but I would say I’m 99 per cent better.

“There are still little problems but I am getting much better and that’s the most important thing.

“The most important thing is that it is getting better every day and soon I will be at 100 per cent.”