GARETH McAuley believes Albion’s last three performances – not least the Boxing Day draw with Manchester City – prove that Roy Hodgson’s men can compete with any team in the Premier League.

The Baggies have taken seven points from their last three games, moving them up to ninth in the table. Their pre-Christmas fixtures saw them take victories at Newcastle and Blackburn.

McAuley, who produced an outstanding performance to help restrict City’s attacking threat on Monday, feels the displays have underlined Albion’s progress.

“Boxing Day showed we can compete with any team in the division,” said the Northern Ireland international.

“We have to be a team, a unit, and we know that if everyone does their jobs then we can get results.

“That’s very pleasing. We know if we can do our jobs right then we can do that.

“Six points last week was important coming into the Manchester City game.

“We knew we’d be written off and had nothing to lose.

“But we knew that if we did the things we’d been working on during the week then we’d have a good chance.

“The fact we stopped them scoring was good for us. We’ve been conceding penalties lately in our home games so it was good to stop that run as well.