Duo make it an Albion double

Albion have pulled off a stunning double-coup with Roberto Di Matteo and Peter Odemwingie named Premier League manager and player of the month.

The duo landed the September awards after helping the Baggies remain unbeaten in three games during the month, collecting seven points and claiming a memorable win at Arsenal.

Albion have never won either award at Premier League level before and both honours are extremely rare for newly-promoted clubs.

Di Matteo has steered the Baggies to an impressive start to the season despite a tough fixture list while Odemwingie has scored three times in five games since joining for £2m from Lokomotiv Moscow.

Assistant head coach Eddie Newton today paid tribute to Di Matteo but insisted he never doubted that the Italian could succeed as a top-flight manager.

Newton said: "The Premier League is not alien to us. Most of our careers have been in the Premier League.

"Maybe as a management team, people may think it's different.

"But when you watch the Premier League week in, week out you understand the difficulty you face — the physicality, tempo, and the quality that means one mistake and you're punished.

"We understood what we were stepping into and we understand we were stepping into a big club, with Premier League quality. "