Mowbray content with start

West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Mowbray remains convinced that his side will avoid an immediate return to the Championship even though Albion are currently bottom of the Premier League table.

The Baggies have lost five of their last six games but, with matches coming up against teams in the bottom half of the table starting with this weekend's encounter at Stoke City, Mowbray remains in an upbeat frame of mind.

He told the Birmingham Mail: "When I have a look at it so far there aren't many occasions, if I was predicting the season at the start, that I'd give us many more points than we've actually got.

"Over the course of the season I'm pretty sure I'd predict us to win enough points to make sure we stay safe. For me there's only Hull City at home where I'd have hoped to have got more from the game than we did.

"We were disappointed to only take a point off Blackburn at home but there are not too many occasions where you'd say we were poor in that game and we didn't do ourselves justice.

"We'll have a much clearer gauge over the next six weeks. If we're sitting here in six weeks saying we lost here and there, I'll be disappointed.

"However, as I sit here today, I still don't feel too disappointed because I feel there aren't too many games that we've let slip away. We're doing okay."