Stoke leading way, says Di Matteo

West Bromwich Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo thinks Stoke have the perfect blueprint for becoming an established English Premier League side.

Di Matteo was speaking ahead of Saturday’s clash between the two sides at The Hawthorns, when both clubs will be looking to build on solid starts to the season which have seen them yield 16 points from their first 13 games.

In their two seasons in England’s top flight since promotion from the Championship in 2008, Stoke have finished 11th and 12th and are no longer considered relegation battlers.

And Di Matteo hopes to follow the example set by opposite number Tony Pulis in his own quest to keep West Brom in the Premier League.

“I think Tony Pulis demands a lot of respect for what he’s done with the club,” Di Matteo said. “I think we look at Stoke and think, ‘That would be a nice club to copy,’.”

“It’s about getting promoted from the Championship, staying up in the Premier League, building a foundation and kicking on and signing some players that he wasn’t able to afford before.”

Stoke’s early success in the Premier League was built upon their threat from set-pieces, with Rory Delap’s notorious long throw a particularly useful weapon.

But Di Matteo believes they now have many more attacking options.

“They’ve added another dimension to their play, certainly with the players they’ve signed – Matthew Etherington, Jermaine Pennant, Kenwyne Jones,” he said.

“They’re still scoring a lot of goals from set-pieces, so it’s a challenge to play against them. I’ve seen them play many times, against many opponents. Nobody’s really come up with any kind of solution to their style.”

“We’re going to have all of our players back from international duty tomorrow morning, so we’ve got one session to nail down.”

“Having said that, in terms of set-pieces, we have not conceded that many this year, but certainly Stoke will present a different challenge to us on Saturday.”