GAYLE PUTS WIND UP JAY
Baggies are on a Dwight-knuckle ride back to the big time
8pm WEST BROM’S Dwight Gayle admits he can be an unbearable travelling companion.
Especially to big mate and goal ‘rival’ Jay Rodriguez, who had to endure another ear-bending on the way back from Stoke on Saturday.
The pair (above) have had goodnatured banter all season on who’s going to finish up with more goals.
Gayle’s winner in the 1-0 victory at Stoke took him to 16, one in front of partner Rodriguez, who said: “I love him to bits but he never stops. He’s always giving me stick.”
The duo hope to stay on the goal trail against Nottingham Forest this evening and get the win which would push Baggies to third in the table. Gayle, on loan from Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle, loves the banter but admits he is finding the whole Championship dogfight bad for his nerves.
The former Crystal Palace poacher said: “It’s very stressful. The Stoke win wasn’t our best performance. It was a real grind but it showed we’re able to see out games with a clean sheet.
“We know how good Forest are. They’re probably one of the best teams we’ve played this season.
“We’ll recover and hopefully put in a performance for our fans and get them a result.”
Gayle is backing Albion, seven points off top spot, to gain automatic promotion.
“It’s nice to get the goals but at the end of the day I want to be at the top of the table or in and around the promotion places,” added the 28-year-old.
“It’s vital we keep scoring goals. But it’s also vital that we grind out results like we did against Stoke. If we can get a few more of those we’ll be right up there.
“Over the last few weeks we have been playing quite well but we haven’t been quite able to see out games.”
Forest, five points below the play-off spots, have their own inform hitman in Lewis Grabban.
Grabban took his total to 16 for the season with a goal in the 2-1 win over Brentford at the weekend – and missed a penalty for good measure. Norwich Leeds Sheff Utd West Brom Middlesbro Bristol City Derby Birmingham N Forest Aston Villa Swansea Hull Blackburn Preston QPR Sheff Wed Stoke Brentford Wigan Millwall Rotherham Reading Bolton Ipswich P W D L F A Pts 31 17 9 5 60 39 60 31 17 7 7 51 35 58 31 16 7 8 53 34 55 30 15 8 7 60 38 53 30 13 12 5 35 23 51 30 14 8 8 38 29 50 30 14 8 8 42 35 50 31 11 13 7 49 39 46 31 11 12 8 44 36 45 31 10 14 7 56 49 44 31 12 8 11 41 37 44 31 12 7 12 43 40 43 31 11 10 10 42 47 43 31 10 10 11 47 46 40 30 11 6 13 38 45 39 30 10 9 11 34 45 39 31 9 11 11 33 40 38 30 9 10 11 49 43 37 31 9 6 16 32 46 33 30 7 9 14 34 45 30 31 5 12 14 29 49 27 31 5 11 15 32 44 26 31 5 8 18 20 47 23 31 3 9 19 23 54 18