West Brom finished 11th in the final table – their highest league finish for three decades. Despite having to deal with West Brom's notoriously frugal approach to the transfer market, Hodgson made several signings in the summer of 2011, replacing goalkeeping duo Boaz Myhill and Scott Carson with former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster on loan from Birmingham City and drafting in Márton Fülöp from Ipswich Town on a free transfer. Experience and height was added to the backline in the form of Northern Ireland international Gareth McAuley on a free transfer and recently relegated Preston North End's player of the season Billy Jones also arrived to add cover at fullback. Prior to the start of the season, former Hawthorns hero Zoltán Gera also returned on a free transfer from Fulham and a summer-long chase for Shane Long was finally ended with the Irish international signing for an undisclosed fee reported to be in the region of £4million. Long joined the club in time to make a scoring début in the season's opener. Following good performances against Manchester United and Chelsea in their opening two fixtures, Hodgson's usual 4–4–2 formation was replaced with a 4–4–1–1 or a 4–3–3 formation. Despite his side being continually beset with injuries to key players and the season-long loss of Zoltan Gera to a cruciate ligament injury in only his second start after returning, Hodgson's side always remained well above the relegation zone until the Christmas period when successive 2–1 home defeats to newly promoted duo Swansea City and Norwich City as well as to bottom club Wigan Athletic saw them move within three points of eighteenth-place Bolton Wanderers. With Hodgson repeatedly stating his ambition for the season was to ensure a third season of Premier League football for West Brom for the first time in almost thirty years, he once again raided Ipswich and Birmingham City for midfielder Keith Andrews and full back Liam Ridgewell respectively in the January transfer window. In February 2012, he led West Brom to three consecutive wins, beating local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers 5–1 at Molineux and recording successive wins at The Hawthorns for the first time all season, beating Sunderland 4–0 and title-chasing Chelsea 1–0. West Brom's form in the final third of the season saw them win six, draw three and lose five from a difficult run-in involving games against seven of the top eight teams. In West Brom's final win of the season they beat Liverpool again, this time at Anfield, their first win there since 1967.