Bart has eyes peeled for chasing pack

KYLE Bartley says that West Brom will inevitably have half an eye on the highly anticipated clash with Leeds United on New Year’s Day – but he disagrees with the opinion in some quarters that the race for automatic promotion is done and dusted. Albion welcome Marcelo Bielsa’s Whites to The Hawthorns on January 1, though they have two more Championship fixtures before then.

The Baggies are sitting pretty at the top of the division with Leeds on their coat-tails, but the pair are well clear of third-placed Fulham and Preston North End as it stands. Bartley, who spent a season on loan at Elland Road during Garry Monk’s tenure, is targeting some revenge after Albion lost in the reverse fixture – to date their only defeat of the season – but he has pointed to previous examples of Aston Villa and Fulham as sides who have burst up the table and charged down the top two before the season’s end.

“They’re a great team,” Bartley said. “They’re obviously the only team to have beaten us this season. That’s a bit of a bitter pill to take, but we play them again on the first (of January) so that’ll be a good game.

“I’m sure the lads are looking forward to it. As I say, we’re taking it one game at a time but I’m sure the lads will have that game in the back of their minds.

“I think if you look at the table, there are still seven or eight teams – one of them could come out of the pack and chase us down.

“We saw Aston Villa last year go on a great run in the second half of the season, I think Fulham did it the year before. So it happens, every season. All we can do is concentrate on our next game.”

Bartley, rejuvenated this term, has been enjoying life under fellow centre-half Slaven Bilic.

He appreciates Bilic’s honesty – the Croat has no problems telling his players when they’ve been excellent or poor.

There’s no complacency in the camp, either, despite the club’s fabulous first half of the campaign – that wouldn’t be permitted on Bilic’s watch.

“That was one of the first things that struck me when I met him, was that he was a very honest man,” Bartley continued. “He wears his heart on his sleeve, but he doesn’t try to kid anyone.

“He says it how it is and he was over the moon with the three points we won last Saturday (against Blues), but he wasn’t happy at all with the performance.

“He told us that. That’s something that’ll keep us on our toes and make sure we keep performing.

“I think it’s much more of a team this season.

“Last season, for the right or wrong reasons after being relegated, some lads had individual goals or agendas and targets, that they wanted to get for themselves.

“This year as a collective, everyone is together.

“There is nobody wanting to get promoted so they could get another move, or they can do this or that.

“They all want to do it for each other.”