Albion No.1 Mathew Ryan has welcomed the signing of Tim Krul and says it will drive him on to greater heights.

Krul will be on the bench as cover for Ryan for the first time away from home at Arsenal tomorrow after making his loan move from Newcastle permanent.

Albion now have three international goalkeepers in Ryan (Australia), Krul (Holland) and Niki Maenpaa (Finland), who gave way on the bench to Krul for last Sunday’s win over Newcastle at the Amex.

Ryan told The Argus: “It’s great for the club. The more competition you get for every position is only going to raise the levels of training and playing and the levels, hopefully, of the individual across the whole team in terms of pushing each other.

“Everyone knows in a season you have unfortunate things like injuries and suspension and crucial times.

“If you’ve got good depth in your squad and competition is fierce, that’s only going to mean great things if somebody needs to be replaced or perhaps someone’s form is not as strong.

“Keeping the guys that are playing on their toes is only going to benefit us as a squad going forward and help us achieve more success.”

Ryan has kept clean sheets in two of his last four appearances, against Newcastle and Watford.