West Bromwich Albion boss Roy Hodgson is delighted with their deal for Birmingham City defender Liam Ridgewell.

Albion fought off competition from Stoke for his signature and Hodgson thinks his experience of survival scraps will be crucial.

The Baggies boss said: "He was a transfer target for us in the summer.

"He is used to playing under pressure to get results - in his case to stay in the league.

"We are hoping we won't be under that much pressure but if we were it would be nice to have someone who has been there before.

"He's an experienced player and very useful to us as we don't have many left-sided defenders at the club."