Wake up to Roo’s threat

VALERIEN ISMAEL has asked his West Brom players to understand why Derby County are picking up so many points against Championship promotion-chasers – and not to fall into that same trap.

The Baggies manager (above) believes the Rams are playing pressure-free football after being docked a whopping 21 points for a string of financial wrongdoings.

But Wayne Rooney’s Derby have taken points off the top two in recent weeks – beating Bournemouth and drawing away at Fulham – and Ismael says his own players need to wake up to the very real threat.

He said: “Forget the table – Derby are strong opponents.

“They have had great results in the past few weeks. The positive thing for them is that they have nothing to lose.

“They expect to drop into League One, they are playing completely free of any pressure and they’re playing with a lot of passion. And they are fighting to survive.

“And situations like this are always dangerous.

“When we played at Coventry a few weeks ago, it was against a team that had confidence and the crowd was noisy. This is going to be the same.

“So, we need to understand the situation. It’s about us. It’s about us controlling our emotions.

“We will have our chances. We need to be relaxed in front of goal.” Karlan Grant (below) heads the scoring charts at The Hawthorns with nine to his name, but Ismael is understood to be in the market for a finisher that he believes will make a difference during the second half of the campaign. The Baggies boss hopes that with more consistency he can increase the pressure on promotion pacesetters Bournemouth and Fulham who have both wobbled in recent weeks.

He added: “For sure, we need someone in the front three who can give us an edge. That’s clear.

“It’s no secret. It’s what the boys need - someone who can make that breakthrough – it’s important to know that we have someone who can score at any time.

“Now, and moving forward, it’s all about us scoring goals. Our conversion rate is really low.

“Apart from that, we’re in a good place. Four points off the top, two off second. We need to start winning consistently.

“There are 23 games left to play in this season. Now we need to put our foot down and pick up the wins we require to close the gap.”