Chris Brunt sounds a call to arms

Albion captain Chris Brunt today insisted the Baggies need multiple skippers as their Premier League survival battle reaches crunch time.

Brunt has been given the go-ahead to keep the armband by new boss Roy Hodgson and is ready to embrace the role.

But the winger today claimed he needs all the club's senior players to help him steer the team towards Premier League safety.

"I wasn't massively bothered about becoming captain but the new manager has come in and wants me to stay in that position," said Brunt. "With me being one of the more senior players, he's quite happy with that and if he's happy with it, I'm happy to do the job.

"But, as I've said before, as we come towards the end of the season we need as many leaders out there as possible. Over the last few weeks, we've had that and we need it to continue.

"As long as I'm doing my job on the pitch I'm sure he'll be happy enough. At the moment, he's quite happy but if I wasn't doing my job, I don't think he'd be too slow in taking me out of the side."

Brunt is set to keep the captain's armband despite the recall of former skipper Scott Carson. The goalkeeper has been restored to the side by Hodgson in recent matches.

and Brunt has paid tribute to his friend, whose poor form saw him dropped by former boss Roberto Di Matteo.

"He has worked hard in training," said Brunt. "For the first few weeks when the manager came in there were a lot of crosses going into the box and a lot of shots on goal and he was superb for the first couple of weeks.

"Obviously first impressions count for a lot and he got his head down and worked hard.

"He got back into the team at Stoke and he did very well, coming for a few crosses and taking the pressure off the defence, especially with Rory Delap's throw-ins.

"He dealt with those a few times with a lot of bodies around him and he kept it going at Birmingham at the weekend.

"He hasn't put a foot wrong."