Alex Palmer Confident West Brom Can Turn Play-Off Heartbreak into Premier League Dream

West Brom shot-stopper Alex Palmer is brimming with confidence the club can achieve a memorable Premier League promotion this season.

The ambitious Baggies suffered heartache last term with defeat to Southampton in the Championship play-offs.

But Palmer and his teammates have put that agonising disappointment permanently behind them having made a flying start to the new season.

Learning from Last Season’s Heartache

Palmer has been pivotal between the posts with a string of clean sheets with the Midlands club having laid down a strong marker of their promotion intent.

“What happened last season has given us a lot of drive this season, we want to be in those top two positions,” Palmer told SportsBoom.com.

“The play-offs are tough, looking back at that Southampton game it was very even when we played them at home.”

“But we can all safely say that Southampton were the only team who really got us the better of us in the course of the whole season.”

“It made it slightly easier for us to go ‘well, look, this is the level we need to get too’.

A Strong Start and Clean Sheets Key to Success

The two sides drew 0-0 at the Hawthorns but it was the Saints who triumphed 3-1 in the second leg at St. Mary’s Stadium and, ultimately, who won promotion to the top flight with victory over Leeds United in the play-off final at Wembley.

“We’re putting decent performances together at the moment, we’re taking our chances and being defensively solid, we’ve got the balance right at the moment it seems,” reflected Palmer.

“The clean sheets are really pleasing, as a group we like to be solid and I think you’ve probably seen that over the last two and a half seasons.”

Navigating the Unpredictability of the Championship

“100 per cent it’s going to a tough test (to get promoted), but every year we say we don’t know what the Championship is going to be like. Although we know anyone can beat anyone on their day.”

“There’s so many games, there’s such a (work) load on the players. All it takes is a couple of injuries to key players and you can struggle and then equally a couple of wins and you can be back in and around it.”

“It (the league) changes all the time, so that’s why getting off to such a good start is so important.”

“We’re craving to do it (get promotion) this season. With the group we’ve got, and all the coaching staff, it would be an incredible achievement.”

“We’re a close-knit group. We were last season to be fair, but I think even more so this year.”