Ellington remains upbeat

Nathan Ellington is confident West Brom can “nick points” off big guns Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool during the festive season to erase the disappointment of the weekend defeat at fellow strugglers Portsmouth.

Ellington admitted that Albion “under-achieved” against Pompey, who provided a winning home start for Harry Redknapp on his return to Fratton Park and moved to within three points of Bryan Robson’s side in the Barclays Premiership.

But Ellington insisted the Baggies’ confidence had not been diminished as a four-game unbeaten run which yielded eight points came to an end on the south coast.

The former Wigan striker admitted: “The least we could have hoped for at Portsmouth was a draw. But we came away with nothing and were very disappointed especially as it ended our unbeaten run.

“They might have had a bit more spark because Harry Redknapp was back in charge. That normally happens when a manager arrives on the scene.

“But their players are no different to ours. They don’t have super powers just because the manager has come back. We under-achieved on Saturday.

“Now we’ve got a very tough schedule over Christmas – especially with the number of games in such a short space of time.

“But, although everybody is disappointed with Saturday’s performance, the confidence is still there that we can nick some points off teams we’re not expected to nick points off.”

Albion – along with Fulham – are still searching for their first away Premiership win of the campaign but Ellington is unfazed by that statistic.

Six-goal Ellington said: “The fact we haven’t won away makes no odds to me. The pitch is green wherever you are and it shouldn’t make too much difference. We don’t really think about it.”