Isaac Price Prepares for Premier League Test Against Newcastle
Isaac Price is not tiptoeing into this one. He is sprinting towards it.
Fresh from a match-winning brace against Burnley, the West Bromwich Albion midfielder is counting down the hours to a Carabao Cup trip that feels like a measuring stick: Premier League Newcastle United, under the lights at St James’ Park, on Wednesday night.
“These are the games you want,” he told BBC WM Sport. No dressing it up. A top-flight side, a hostile ground, a chance to see exactly where this Albion team stands. “To go and play away at a Premier League team and at a place where we can go and show our quality. I can't wait.”
High-flying Albion, big-stage audition
Albion travel north in good shape. James Morrison’s side sit second in the Championship after winning both of their opening league fixtures, and they eased past League Two Rotherham United in the first round of the EFL Cup to earn this tie.
Newcastle, who opened their league campaign with a 2-2 draw against Liverpool at St James’ Park, bring the glamour and the pedigree. West Brom bring form and a point to prove.
Price, still only in the early chapters of his Albion story, underlined that Sunday’s 3-1 win over Burnley – in which he scored twice – has only sharpened the squad’s appetite for a bigger stage.
“All the lads are buzzing,” he said. The mood is high, the confidence real. But the scars of last season are close enough to touch.
Lessons from a near-miss
Twelve months ago, Albion also flew out of the blocks. Then the wheels came off.
Under Ryan Mason, results tailed off sharply. Performances dipped. By the time the season staggered to a close, West Brom were hanging on to their Championship status rather than chasing anything more ambitious.
Price hasn’t forgotten.
“We had this last year – we started really well and it went downhill pretty fast,” he said. “So it is about keeping our feet on the ground, keeping a level of consistency in performances to make sure that doesn't happen again.”
There is no sugar-coating the problems they faced. “We conceded a lot of goals that we shouldn't have last season and we didn't score enough at the other end,” he admitted. Those are hard numbers, not vague impressions.
For Price, that becomes a personal challenge. “This year I want to be a key player where I show that that can't happen and I want to be a leader in this team to make sure it doesn't happen.”
Morrison’s impact and a club reconnecting
The turning point came in February. Eric Ramsay was sacked, and James Morrison – a man who knows every corridor of The Hawthorns – stepped in as interim head coach.
Morrison, a former Scotland international who played 341 times for West Brom, promptly stitched together a ten-match unbeaten run. That surge kept Albion out of League One and earned him the job on a permanent basis.
His presence, Price says, has changed the temperature inside the building.
“It's helpful for all the lads. He knows the club inside out,” Price said. “He's really humble – you wouldn't know day to day how many games he played and how many goals he scored for West Brom because he doesn't talk about it, but he is a legend and the lads love him.”
The respect is obvious, but so is the practicality. “He's good around the changing room and he understands what we need. We look really good on the pitch at the moment, so it is about building the consistency which is what he wants.”
From survival fight to statement night
Price talks like a player who has been forced to grow up quickly. “You are always learning as a player, even the lads who have played 2, 3, 400 games,” he said. “It's about managing games and moments.”
Every game in the Championship is “tough”, he insists, regardless of the opponent. That mindset now stretches into the cup. Newcastle are a step up, but not a step back.
This tie offers more than just progression to the third round. It offers a snapshot of where Morrison’s rebuilt, re-energised Albion really are.
They escaped trouble last season. They’ve started fast again. Now comes a night in front of a Premier League crowd, against a side with European ambitions, with a young midfielder desperate to show he belongs on that stage.
Isaac Price says he cannot wait. On Tyneside, we find out if West Brom are ready to go with him.
