A critical week has seen the Baggies remain unbeaten on their travels and keep their survival hopes well on track. The point at Stoke was most welcome as the infamous record of not winning there since 1982 is probably our most notorious bogey streak alongside our Villa victory drought. In the end our trip to the Britannia could even have yielded three points thanks to our added-on time rally.
If you were able to choose to play the normal solid Birmingham City, five days into their Carling Cup victory hangover would be an ideal opportunity and this is what turned out to be the case. A more organised defensive performance coupled with a trio of clinical second half strikes saw the Baggies claim three very valuable points in a three-one success. The lacklustre Blues display played a small part in our win but you can only beat what's put in front of you. Although goalscorers, Morrison, Mulumbu and Sharner, got the plaudits, it was the overall team display that pleased Roy Hodgson especially as the tougher challenges of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham fill four of the next five games.
So we now sit on 32 points with 9 games to play. Safety is in our grasp and a string of performances similar to those put in this week will give us a good chance of survival but it will be tough. While Wigan seem to be faltering, West Ham and Wolves are fighting hard and the gradual points accumulation from three of the four 'W's is putting the three 'B's under pressure in Birmingham, Blackpool and Blackburn. It's going to be close but it's still very much in our hands. A two week break is now in place before our next scheduled game against Arsenal, so join this blog in a couple of weeks to get a further update on our Survival Campaign 2011.
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