Davy Propper had doubts but will complete ton with Potter

Propper had been a mainstay for Albion under previous manager Chris Hughton after signing in August 2017, making 65 appearances out of a possible 76 in the Premier League in his first two seasons at the club.

Propper’s game time has never been in doubt under Potter, having played 2,160 minutes in the league this season, with only skipper Lewis Dunk and Maty Ryan having played more.

However, when Hughton left in the summer and Potter came in, Propper revealed he wasn’t too sure about whether he would get as much game time.

He said: “You never know with a new coach.

“I didn’t know much about him before, so I didn’t know what he likes to do with a team, how he wants to play.

“In pre-season you could see he likes to play football and that is one thing I like to do as well and maybe I can help the team with that as well.”

Albion host their rivals Crystal Palace in the early kick-off.

Both sides are only a few places clear of the relegation zone with Albion in 15th and Palace just two places and five points above them in 13th, so is their more pressure on the derby for Albion given their league position?

Propper said: “I think this game most of the time is on its own, but for us we haven’t won yet this year so every game from now on we feel the pressure to win the game of course and the next one is the biggest one every year.”

One area of Propper’s game that gets heavily criticised is his goal contribution.

The 28-year-old has scored two goals in his 99 appearances for Albion so far in all competitions and has eight assists to his name.

Compare this to his record at PSV Eindhoven, where he scored 21 in 162 appearances and got 18 assists, Propper has not been quite as prolific for Albion.

Even for the Netherlands, Propper has scored three goals in 17 caps, so is he hoping to bring a more attacking side to his game at Albion?

He said: “It is what I want to do, it is one of the areas of my game which needs to improve a bit.

“At the other end it is all about control of the game and making sure you are in the right position if we lose the ball, or if we are attacking to play to the other side.

“For me it is not all about the attacking side of things it is to make sure we create chances and create chances through the right people.”

If Propper plays any part against Palace it will be his 100th appearance for the club and the Dutch midfielder did not realise it had come around so quickly.

He said: “It is nice, it has been a good three years here and I didn’t know it was my 100th already, so it went really quick.”

Propper got thrown in at the deep end after signing for Albion making his debut just five days later against Manchester City at the Amex in a 2-0 defeat and Propper explained how quickly it all happened.

He said: “It was a strange week for me. I had never left Holland before, so that was a big decision for me and then days later I was playing against Manchester City at home was a strange feeling.

“The reason I came was to play against all the big teams, so it was nice to be playing straight away against a top team like that.”

In his time at the club, Propper has experienced a lot with Albion being part of the team that has survived in the Premier League in the previous two seasons and was also part of the team which made the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley against Manchester City, so what is his greatest memory?

He said: “The semi-final is the one that sticks out as it was a nice occasion.

“Also, to make sure we stayed in the league in the first two seasons, I think the first one was a bit earlier than the second one but it both cases it was a nice feeling.”

Since Potter has come in a lot of Albion’s squad have been asked to play in some new positions to them and fulfil slightly different roles and Propper feels Potter has changed his game.

He said: “He changed me and everyone in the team actually and the way we play is a lot different to the first two years when I was here.

“In most games we try to take control on the ball, instead of without the ball which suits me as it is one of my qualities.

“We have had a lot of games where we have dominated the game but at the end of it we only get a draw.”

Albion are yet to pick up a win in 2020 in their first seven games of the year and Propper spoke about how nice it would be to get that elusive first win against Palace.

He said: “It would be very nice, but a few of the draws we saw as a really good point and a few were we deserved a little bit more.

“Eventually we want to take the three points, but it is the most difficult thing to do in this league, so we have to keep going as we feel it is coming.”

Propper will do battle with one his Dutch team-mates and friends Patrick Van Aanholt.

The pair played together for Vitesse Arnhem for two years and Propper explained how far they go back.

He said: “He played in the youth academy of PSV when I was at Vitesse academy, then he moved to Chelsea when he was quite young I think he was 16 so we have known each other quite a long time.

“He is a little bit older than me I think one year, so we haven’t always played against each other as much as we might off.

“At Vitesse he came there on loan when I was at the club and we played together there, so we have quite a bit of history.”