West Brom can't rely on Saido Berahino says Chris Brunt
Captain Chris Brunt today warned Albion they cannot heap pressure on Saido Berahino to score the goals to keep them in the Premier League.
Brunt reckons Berahino is too young to shoulder the goalscoring burden alone and urged his fellow midfielders to take up the slack.
Berahino heads into derby action tonight looking to disappoint Villa-supporting friends after growing up in Aston following his arrival in England as a 10-year-old from war-torn Burundi.
But, with Shane Long sold to Hull, Nicolas Anelka facing a possible FA ban and boss Pepe Mel looking for a new forward, Brunt has warned 20-year-old Berahino cannot be overloaded.
"Saido's goals have spoken for themselves but people forget that he's still a young guy and he's coming off the back of quite a serious injury," said Brunt.
"We can't just chuck him in and stick all the pressure on him to score goals because it wouldn't be fair on him. It's not that he's not capable , because he is. But the club have used him sparingly and there are reasons for that.
Victor Anichebe is expected to start tonight at Villa Park after returning from a hamstring injury.
s a substitute in the 1-1 draw at home to Everton last week.
"We've got good players all over the pitch but goals have been a slight problem for us this season, whereas last season with Romelu Lukaku, and Peter Odemwingie at the start of the season, we had a lot of goals in the squad."
Victor Anichebe is expected to start tonight at Villa Park after returning from a hamstring injury as a substitute in the 1-1 draw at home to Everton last week.
Matej Vydra is the other striker at Mel's disposal.
Brunt said: "Matej missed a big chunk at the start of the season but he's got himself fit and in training he is a good goalscorer.
"He's pretty sharp in and around the box.
"Vic is a lot different to what we had before because he holds the ball up really well.
"We saw that on Monday when he came on against Everton and he did really well.
"If we can keep him fit and get him back in training regularly that's bound to help, not necessarily for him to score goals but he holds the ball up well and brings players into the game really well.
"With the midfielders we've got we probably are capable of scoring more goals than we do from midfield."