Newcastle United may have been away from the training ground for 13 days after a 'significant' outbreak of COVID-19 but that cannot be used an excuse going into the clash against West Brom.
That's the view of Matt Ritchie - who made his first appearance since an injury in September - in United's last game, the victory over Crystal Palace.
The Scotland international says the squad, who returned to Benton on Wednesday, are 'raring to go' against the Baggies and that there are 'no excuses' going into the game.
"There are no excuses - the game is hopefully on and we are preparing as we always do and we have to take the positives from it.
"We had a week off to train at home and have fresh legs going into a batch of really good games.
"It's really good to be back.
"The boys have come back in good spirits - obviously it's been a bit of a difficult time with the uncertainly but it's been pleasing to be back.
"The boys have worked hard and we are raring to go."
West Brom come into this game on the back of a 5-1 thumping off Crystal Palace and without their star man Matheus Pereira who picked up a red card in that game.
The Baggies are 19th in the Premier League table, eight points off United and come into this game with just one win in their last five.
Ritchie concedes that United need to be beating the sides around them.
"We target three points from every game, everyone knows that," he added.
"You go into a game trying to win it, and in whatever way you play, you're still trying to win it but yes the teams around us in the bottom half of the table are the ones we need to make sure we try to win and we can't win, we don't get beat.
"That's the important factor in the PL."
