Joel Veltman wants to make up for a false start to the Europa League by beating his old club.

The Dutch defender is likely to return to Albion’s starting XI as they take on Ajax in Group B tomorrow.

He played for the Amsterdam giants from the age of ten until moving to the Amex at 28 and could now add to their woes in a week which saw head coach Maurice Steijn depart.

Veltman said: “I feel we have to win big time. We have one point, didn’t play that well against Marseille (in a 2-2 draw).

“Ajax at home, we need to have a result.”

A jittery Albion lost to AEK Athens in their opening game but Veltman does not expect similar mistakes to be made in their second home fixture.

He said of the 3-2 reverse against AEK: “Maybe we could be surprised, could be less experienced because you are playing against teams you don’t know of, as in how they play.

“Maybe you don’t know the players but they can be really good.

“We saw Athens, they were really compact, defended really well.

“Eventually I think it was three set-pieces and they scored three goals. We have to do better than that.

“Marseille was a bit difficult. One mistake as well, which kills us a bit.

“Now, and it’s what every team wants, but if we don’t make mistakes, we can win every game.”

Veltman joked about beating Ajax before the draw was even made and will relish the chance to face a club he helped to a Champions League semi and Europa final.

He said: “Now we play two games against Ajax and we want to have six points. It’s that clear.

“I did say we will end up first and they are second, that would be quite a nice thing. To draw them already, that’s special.”

Veltman looks set to start at right-back with question marks over the left side of defence after Solly March joined the injury list.

Fellow Dutchman Jan Paul van Hecke could feature in any defensive reshuffle.

Joao Pedro is the outright top scorer in the competition going into week three with three goals, all from the penalty spot.

Albion will train this morning at Lancing with Ajax, under interim boss Hedwiges Maduro, then working at the Amex in early evening.