West Brom blog: Crunch Time in the next three away games

Undefeated in our first three having conceded only one goal but now without a win in five, writes Nathan Carr.

Bang in the middle of the table with nine points from seven outings.

The next three matches away from home – Leicester, Southampton and Huddersfield – are very important as the notoriously difficult Christmas period fast approaches.

Manchester City and Chelsea, meanwhile, are always going to be very tough, even if we have historically fared pretty well against the big boys under Tony Pulis.

In my opinion, we should be targeting a minimum of six points from these away games. Seven? Even better. Nine? Fantastic.

Having failed to pick up wins over Stoke, Brighton, West Ham and Watford – three of those at the Hawthorns - there is added importance on picking up positive results against Leicester, Southampton and Huddersfield, especially as these are sides around us in the table.

Baggies fans will remember our last trip to the King Power at the back end of last year, a morale-boosting 1-2 victory thanks to goals from James Morrison and Matt Phillips.

Indeed, that was a turning point in the campaign as we lost just four from our following 15 in the league.

The pressure is growing on Pulis after spending big over the summer and this Albion squad being one of the strongest in recent memory.

He will know better than anyone the need to come out of this run with points on the board, hopefully beginning with three against Leicester in just over a week’s time.