Roy Hodgson urges West Brom to be ‘top dog in Birmingham’ & finish season above Aston Villa and Birmingham

Roy Hodgson, West Bromwich Albion

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Following his side’s 1-0 win over Everton at the Hawthorns on Saturday, West Brom manager Roy Hodgson was understandably in good spirits and issued one more target before the end of the season.

Albion are currently in 10^th place in the Premier League with one match to go, a trip to Newcastle, but the Baggies could potentially finish as high as eighth if results go their way and Hodgson wants his side to finish ahead of local rivals Birmingham and Aston Villa.

Saturday’s match was wrapped up early through a Peter Odemwingie-inspired Youssuf Mulumbu tap-in in the first half, and despite Everton dominating the majority of the match, Hodgson was delighted to get the three points.

Speaking to TalkSPORT after the match, Hodgson said: “Yes I was really pleased we got the three points today. I thought it was going to be a tough game.

“Everton will never give you anything for free. They were very well organised and disciplined team with a lot of good players so we knew that if we were to get a result today we would have to produce a performance.

“I thought Everton took us to the limit. It was a strange one in the sense that there were goal chances for both teams and clearances off goal lines at both ends, so the game could definitely have ended with a different scoreline.

“But strangely enough, for once I am really happy with 1-0 because it’s the first clean sheet we have kept since August and it was nice that finally we have got that monkey off our back and next season won’t start with everyone reminding me that we don’t keep cleansheets, so that is quite nice.

“We can thank some very good Scot Carson saves and some good blocks for it.”

Saturday’s match, and the season as a whole will without doubt go down as a huge success, with players like Odemwingie showcasing impeccable form, but Hodgson was quick to point out that it’s not just the players who should be congratulated.

“I’ve got to say the fans ever since I arrived here have been outstanding,” he said. “I think they have been pretty good even before I arrived as well.

“This is a good set of fans and we are really pleased we can reward their faith in us, reward their loyalty, we get another year in the Premier League with a final home game of the season that gave us a victory.

“Sometimes we were disappointed, like last week when we sent a lot of travelling fans away disappointed so I am pleased we haven’t done it two weeks in a row.”

Avoiding relegation, and a potential top-10 finish will no doubt be seen as great achievements for the club, but Hodgson has something else in mind as he sets his sights on ruling Birmingham.

He continued: “More importantly, I’d say is to finish as top-dog in Birmingham and finish above our two major Birmingham rivals that would be a great achievement.

“If we get in the top 10 with a result next week that will be even better still, but we have got to be careful we don’t start gaping after the moon.

“We have had a wonderful last three or four months, things have gone brilliantly for us and sometimes you need to be grateful for the things you’ve got and not consistently hope things will get even better still.”

A key moment in the match was the straight red card issued to Everton’s Russian international Diniyar Bilyaletdinov a lunge on West Brom’s James Morrison.

The former England youth international wasn’t hurt by the tackle that was one-footed, but the Russian’s studs were showing, the only sure-fire reason Bilyaletdinov was dismissed, but Hodgson felt the decision was substantially harsh.

“I thought it was very harsh,” he added. “I’ve got to say that it was a difficult match for the referee, these matches always are, right at the end of the season, but I would be lying if I said that David Moyes and I were satisfied with some of the decisions out there.

“I think that they went against each of us in turns, it wasn’t in favour of a particular team but there were a lot of decisions we weren’t terribly happy with and I know David won’t be happy about the sending off.

“It’s a reckless tackle and unfortunately there were  a few of those in the game but I certainly didn’t expect to see Diniyar Bilyaletdinov sent off and wouldn’t have wanted to see him sent off to be perfectly honest.

“I don’t get any enjoyment from that type of thing because you know it’s going to happen to you one day.”