Alan Irvine has praised Saido Berahino for his reaction to being dropped to the bench at West Bromwich Albion.

The striker scored seven goals early in the Premier League campaign, but has not found the back of the net since before last month's international break, when he received his first senior England call-up.

The Baggies manager told reporters: "He's certainly been training very well and has responded in exactly the way that you'd want to for a player who has been left out of the squad.

"He'll be a really important player for us this season, there's no doubt about that. I think everybody realised Saido had been finding things a bit difficult, his performances hadn't been at the same level that he'd been showing earlier in the season.

"That was understandable because he's young player who we're asking a lot of, a lot more than anybody anticipated at the start of the season. I felt it was time to take a bit of the pressure off him, time to give him the chance to play with a bit more freedom and not feel as if everybody was looking at him all the time."

Berahino came off the bench to set up the goal in Albion's 1-0 win over local rivals Aston Villa yesterday.