West Brom still focussed on top says striker Brandon Thomas-Asante

Carlos Corberan’s Baggies managed to climb out of the second tier relegation zone with a win in their final fixture before the World Cup break, a 2-0 win over Stoke which made it three wins on the bounce as resurgent form under the new boss continued.

There is still some way to go to make ground on rivals further up the rankings, with Albion six points from the top half and eight points away from the play-off positions - their minimum target - albeit with a game in hand on most rivals.

The team do have momentum on their side on the back of a trio of wins, as well as clean sheets, as Corberan’s influence has been felt instantly by the side. The four-week break for the World Cup may have stunted progress on the results front, but the head coach anticipates time on the training ground, and abroad in Spain, will help further translate his ideas and methods on the group.

Striker Thomas-Asante, spectacular goal hero from the Potters victory, said: “We will get a little break but most of the time without fixtures will I’m sure be friendlies, double sessions and a lot of hard work.

“This manager, we will definitely prepare for what we want to achieve and we know that we still want to look to be at the top of the table.

“That will take a lot of preparation and that’s an opportunity to do so.”

On the prospect of Albion making up ground on rivals, he added: “Yes and there’s a lot of time left as well. Although the position doesn’t look great, when you look at the points it is not so far (away from the top) and there is a lot of time.”

Albion return to training at their Walsall base today after the players were granted a week of recovery time.

They will work under Corberan and his staff until Sunday, before the entire first-team squad jets off to eastern Spain for a warm-weather training camp billed as crucial to further their development under the head coach, both tactically, physically and in regards to relations on and off the pitch.

Corberan has translated numerous methods to his new squad in just a few weeks together, his tactical detail is said to have made a big impression on the players.

The former Huddersfield boss leads the way both on the grass and in the classrooms in training.

Corberan explained: "It's a clear mix of both, the only different thing to be here or in a training camp is you can use one place to rest between two training sessions.

"You are in a hotel, you can go to your room and rest well because if you rest well then you can work well.

"But when you don't have the possibility you have to manage better the intensity of the training, sometimes you can raise the recovery of the players more.

"We have here, for me, a top facility to develop our work in the best way, I don't find any limitations to do what we need to do here to play what we need to.

"It's a mix of spending time analysing game situations."