Hodgson determined to keep Odemwingie

MISSION accomplished — now for the future.

Roy Hodgson wants to keep leading scorer Peter Odemwingie and West Brom’s other star players after virtually guaranteeing Barclays Premier League football for another campaign with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa.

Odemwingie, who has netted 14 goals this season, has been the subject of speculation suggesting he may leave the Baggies this summer.

But the Nigerian international has already stressed he is happy to remain at The Hawthorns and head coach Hodgson is in the same frame of mind.

He said: “You can’t stop people like Peter attracting attention. Our aim with Peter is to make sure he is happy here with us and he wants to stay with us.

“I don’t know what offers will come our way for him and, if they do, we will have to deal with them. But our intention is to build on what we are doing at the moment.

“We’ve laid some sort of foundation, our aim is to build on it and make the place a lot stronger.

“We are not going to do that by messing around with our current foundations.

“People like Chris Brunt, Peter Odemwingie and Youssouf Mulumbu, just to name three, are very much a part of our foundations.”

Odemwingie was on target for the fourth successive game as Albion’s home success over Villa moved them eight points clear of the bottom three with just three games remaining.

Hodgson said: “His goals have been vital. He has done extremely well. But it is still his first year in the Premier League and next year, if we can carry on working with him, and continue working at our game, he will get even better.’’

Hodgson has been linked with a move for Fulham striker Andy Johnson, who played under him at Craven Cottage.

He is downplaying any interest at the moment, but is a big admirer of the player.

Hodgson said: “Andy is a wonderful player, a wonderful person. It would be wrong of me at this moment in time to discuss players.’’

Meanwhile Villa’s on-loan defender Kyle Walker has hinted he would be happy to return to the club next season if he is unable to force his way into the Tottenham side.

Walker said: “My main thing is just to play football. It’s the game I love. I get out of bed every morning and play football.

“That’s all I really want to be doing. If I can do it at Spurs, then perfect. If not, we will see what happens.

“Would Villa be a nice option again? Villa is perfect but you never know. Football is weird.”

Walker is full of praise for the way caretaker boss Gary McAllister has filled the breach while manager Gerard Houllier recovers from his heart problem.

He said: “Macca has done brilliant to be fair. He does take training a lot and the lads have a good understanding with him.”