West Brom skipper Jonathan Greening confident of another Great Escape

Apr 5 2009 by Robert Tanner, Sunday Mercury

“If anything, we probably have a better squad than we did then and we play better football.

“If we can play as well as we have shown in patches, keep it tight at the back and get some goals then we have a great chance of winning six or seven of the last eight.”

The fact that the likes of Pompey, Newcastle and Boro are feeling the pinch in the final stages of the season is because they never thought they would be involved in a relegation battle while, in complete contrast, Greening admits Albion always suspected they would be in for a fight and believes that has placed extra pressure on their rivals.

“When I was at Middlesbrough, one year we started off really badly and we were right near the bottom three,” Greening recalls.

“With the players we had we shouldn’t have been anywhere near the bottom three.

“We were fourth from bottom for quite a few months and it is not a nice feeling.

“We had players like Juninho, Gareth Southgate, George Boateng and Ugo Ehiogu, and yet we were right down at the bottom.

“It wasn’t nice and you do feel that extra bit of pressure. Portsmouth will be feeling the same, as will Blackburn and Newcastle.

“If we can put pressure on them they will not be used to it.”

Greening has been as surprised as most at Portsmouth’s precarious predicament. After beating Albion in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley last season and going on to lift the cup, Portsmouth looked more likely to be pushing for a Europa Cup spot this season than slugging it out with the Baggies.

However, like the Boro side Greening once graced, star-studded Pompey have become embroiled in a fight for survival.

“I didn’t think they would be in this position,” he said.

“Everything seems to have gone downhill since they won the cup.

“They still have some top players like Sol Campbell, Glen Johnson, David James, Peter Crouch, Shaun Davies and they paid £6m for David Nugent.

“It has not been the best season for them but it just shows what a hard league this is. I don’t think any of their players will be happy about playing us because it will be another difficult game for them and their fans will be expecting a comfortable win. We have to go there and give it a real good go.”