Home form crucial for Chris Brunt

Albion winger Chris Brunt has admitted home form will be crucial as the Hawthorns prepares to welcome back Premier League football.

The Baggies welcome Sunderland to the Black Country tomorrow, as Brunt and Co look to bounce back from a 6-0 opening-day defeat at Chelsea.

And, with the team unbeaten at home since January, the wide man believes results on home turf will be vital.

He said: "It's a big game for us because the home games are going to be massive. We have to take as many points as we can at the Hawthorns.

"For the first home game of the season there is going to be a big crowd, so hopefully they'll make a lot of noise and make it difficult for Sunderland by spurring us on.

"It's not necessarily a must-win but one we need to take points from. I don't think last week has sapped anyone's confidence because for long periods of the game we matched Chelsea and for periods we were as good as we were last season.

"With the amount of possession Chelsea had they were always going to create chances towards the end as we tired. We covered a lot of ground and each and every one of us worked hard.

"To get a 6-0 defeat for the amount of work we put in was a bit unfair - but that's the nature of the Premier League.

"We've got winnable games now, we've just got to try and take the positives and move on to this week. We've got a good home record. We haven't lost one since the start of January.

"It's important we keep that going because that's going to a big part of it this year."