Manchester City v West Brom: Slaven Bilic believes his Baggies can defy odds

It feels as though there aren’t many people who believe Albion can get a result at the Etihad Stadium tonight.

But while it is undoubtedly going to be tough against Pep Guardiola’s side, it’s about time Slaven Bilic’s players rolled up their sleeves and gave their boss a performance that will truly make him proud.

With the exception of Crystal Palace – when Matheus Pereira was controversially sent off – Albion’s last three defeats have all been by a single goal.

They are close to getting results and turning their form around.

But they keep falling just short.

Manchester City, on paper, seems like a nightmare next fixture for a team struggling to win games.

But instead of being fearful, Bilic has told his players to embrace the collective challenge that comes with trying to stop one of the world’s best sides.

“We have a plan, we need to double on players, we need to be compact and we need to defend in numbers,” the Croatian said.

“We have to make sure we don’t have situations where it is two against one.

“That needs effort, that needs practice and that needs quality.

“City have players all over the park that are dominant.

“They like being one against one. Some of them like being two against one.

“So it is a great test of character, a great test of team effort – to be compact, to resist, to make it hard for them.

“When they come into the final third, and they are probably going to come many times, we have to make sure we double up.

“When you do that you leave something open. But you have to make sure that whatever is open is in front of you.

“Then we can shift across, be aware – and if we do that the players will always be in a position where they can help their team-mates.

“It’s easy to say. It’s not easy to do. But it’s the way to cope with it.

“Then we have to be brave when we have the ball. We have to keep it and then hopefully hurt them. That is the plan.”

While Bilic has seen positives in all of Albion’s recent performances – he says the only way they will start picking up results is they improve in both boxes.

“We aren’t creating enough in the box,” the head coach continued. “We aren’t even having enough touches in the box. That is where it matters.

“At the moment we are good in midfield and in those pockets.

“At the moment it looks nice. But where it really matters, where it counts – in our box and in their box – we are not good enough.

“We saw that with the second goal at Newcastle. We can talk about a brilliant cross and a top-quality header from Dwight Gayle. It was a ‘wow’ goal.

“But we were in a good situation and we didn’t deal with it.

“I can say we are in the Premier League and we are competing.

“I can say more or less we are in every game. We are very competitive, nobody is having an easy game against us.

“But we have to turn those performances into results.

“To do that you have to do more than play good football in the middle of the park or in pockets.

“We have got to be clinical in their box and defend our box better.”

Bilic says Albion are going to the Etihad to get a result.

But he says the bare minimum from the trip is to make sure they leave Manchester with a confidence they can take into Sunday’s derby against Villa.

“When we played against Tottenham we lost 1-0 and came away disappointed we didn’t get a point,” the boss added.

“But we gained confidence rather than losing confidence.

“At Man City our aim is to get out of that more confidence than when we entered it.

“Hopefully, it will be with three points, it could be a point, it could be with a good performance. But it requires effort.

It requires effort, a lot of energy, togetherness, concentration and bravery.”