Scott Carson's warning for Albion

Albion captain Scott Carson has warned the Baggies not to waste their flying start to the Premier League season after they slipped to a second straight defeat.

They were beaten for the second time in a week yesterday as Manchester City won 2-0, to inflict their first home league defeat in 11 months.

Now Carson has warned his side their best ever start to a Premier League campaign could quickly wash away if they fail to collect points at West Ham on Wednesday or Wigan on Saturday.

He said: "We know we need to get something. We've had two successive losses, something we've not had before and something we're not used to.

"We need to get our heads around things quickly today and get two results this week. The middle section of the league table is very tight.

"We're only a couple of losses away from being dragged back into the mix at the bottom and we don't want that to happen.

"Even when we've won, we've kept our feet on the ground and always looked to the next game.

"We need to do that with defeats too. Wednesday is a very big game."

Yesterday's defeat followed Monday's loss with nine men at Blackpool and meant the Baggies missed the chance to climb into the top four.

They also lost Youssouf Mulumbu to suspension for Wednesday's trip to Upton Park after he was sent off.

But head coach Roberto Di Matteo hopes James Morrison will recover from his knee injury in time to return against the Hammers, while Steven Reid could be fit enough to start.

Di Matteo said: "In the 11 games we've played, discounting the first game and the first half yesterday, I think we played pretty well.

"At the moment we just have a few problems with injuries and suspensions, but we just have to deal as well as we can with it."

City have confirmed they will appeal against the red card for two-goal hero Mario Balotelli, who was sent off in the second-half yesterday for kicking out at Mulumbu.