Gareth Barry urges West Brom to capitalise on Chelsea chaos
Gareth Barry insists it will only take one win to spark a season-saving run of form for the Baggies – and he’s confident it can come against a Chelsea side in chaos.
Albion are four points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League and could be even further behind by the time they visit Stamford Bridge on Monday.
But Barry says the team are raring to get back onto the pitch and put a disappointing defeat at home to Southampton to bed, and he believes Antonio Conte's struggles at Chelsea offer a great opportunity to do just that.
The Italian is reportedly close to leaving the Blues after back-to-back defeats to Bournemouth and Watford.
“People will be looking and saying ‘we’re really up against it’, but it will take one result,” said the 36-year-old.
“There’s no better place to try and go and lift the confidence than Stamford Bridge. We realise that. And if we do work hard then there’s no reason we can’t do that.
“We’ve got to look at it as a good time to play them. They’re coming off the back of two disappointing results and confidence may be a bit lower than normal.
“We’ve got to go there, try and frustrate them and make it an even tougher time for them.
“But we need to focus on ourselves. If we do things right then we’ll have an ever better chance.”
Albion are rock bottom and have just three league wins all season, but with almost a third of the season remaining, Barry says there is plenty of time for more twists and turns.
“It will be a case of taking things one game at a time,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of up and downs between now and the end of the season so it’s up to us to make sure there are more ups. The home form is going to be vital.
“That’s probably why the Southampton result has knocked us a bit. Before that the results and performances had been really good so it’s important to put that one to bed really early, go into Chelsea and then from then on be really positive about our form and take it through to the end of the season.”
Albion are working to a different schedule this week ahead of a Monday night game, but Barry insists the players have returned to training in a determined mood.
“Like anytime when there’s a disappointing result you’re down after the game,” said Barry. “But the good thing in football is there’s always another game. The disappointing thing is there isn’t one until Monday.
“We’ve worked really hard so far this week, really determined to try and put things right. We’re looking forward to the game on Monday and we’ll try to be positive about our situation.
“The atmosphere’s been good in training, we’ve put in some really good work. Obviously it’s a longer week than normal because of the game on Monday so that can help us.
“We’ve got a day off on Thursday to refresh and then work hard over the weekend to build towards the game. You want that next game to come around as quickly as possible, especially after a defeat.”
