Joey jibe could spur on us, claims Albion boss Irvine
Albion boss Alan Irvine has urged his side to make Joey Barton eat his words by causing a shock against Manchester City on Boxing Day.
Irvine reckons Barton's jibe following Saturday's 3-2 defeat at QPR could inspire his players to prove the former City midfielder wrong.
QPR captain Barton claimed he predicted Albion would "s*** themselves" when they went 2-0 up at Loftus Road and Irvine believes performing well against the champions on Friday would be the perfect response.
"It is his thoughts and comments and it is up to him whether he voices them or not," said Irvine.
"I am very calm about it all. The fact is we have won games and held on to leads but, like any other team, sometimes you don't.
"We have players clearly who are perfectly capable of winning games. They have done that for us in the past and they will do in the future.
"I'm not going to pin his comments on the dressing room wall, but I am sure the lads are aware of it.
"Who knows, maybe we might use it next time we play QPR."
Saido Berahino is pushing for a recall to the starting line-up against City and Irvine insists the club have had no enquiries about their leading scorer.
"At the moment it is only speculation. We have had no enquiries whatsoever.
"January will reveal what is going to happen.
"We may well get some offers for Saido and if we do the club will deal with them.
"The chairman has aleady said he doesn't want to sell Saido in January so I'm guessing nothing has changed as far as that is concerned."
Victor Anichebe will be missing on Boxing Day with his continuing groin injury.
Graham Dorrans (calf) and Boaz Myhill (illness) are expected to be available despite missing training yesterday while Chris Brunt is in contention after a hamstring problem and Georgios Samaras is back following his return to Greece because of a family matter.