Swede backs Baggies to finish on high after Gunners battle
JONAS Olsson insists Albion’s battling display in Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat by Arsenal highlights the team’s desire to end the season on a high.
The Baggies remain eighth in the Barclays Premier League and have not placed lower than ninth in the table this term.
And the Sweden international believes the determination his team-mates demonstrated to fight back from 2-0 down against the Champions-League chasing Gunners and almost snatch an equaliser shows how eager they are not to let the season fizzle out.
“We showed over the 90 minutes that we still want to win games and still want to keep the season going,” said Olsson.
“We showed over the 90 minutes that we still want to win games and still want to keep the season going,” said Olsson.
“We've had a good season so far and we are not going to let it slip in the last few months.
“It is not hard and you could see on Saturday everyone was fighting, everyone trying for 95-96 minutes to try and get something out of it.
“We need to look beyond the result and look at the performance. It was a good one - especially the desire.
“We want to stay top six, seven, eight.
“We have been there all season and don't want that to slip away in the last six games.
“We put in a good performance and it wasn't to be our day.
“With a bit of luck and a bit of sharpness in front of goal, we could have got at least a point.”
The 30-year-old hopes a top-half finish will further encourage prospective signings to come to The Hawthorns this summer – with a view to improving their league performance next term.
“It's important to see the club going in the right direction and progressing every year,” he added.
“We've done so for the last three or four years.
“It is easier to attract players.
“We have to keep with the model we have been using, strengthening the team every season, keeping the players we have.
“That is the key element that has made us come this far, that we have kept the squad intact.
“Every year we sharpen the competition and the quality of the team.
“We need to keep building on that.
“Anyone who knows this league knows it is very difficult to compete with the teams that are top seven at the moment, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal, and the Manchester clubs.
“With their financial resources, it is very difficult to compete with that, but we showed this season, and if we have a season where most things go our way, we can compete with them.
“There are a few games this season where we have ended up short, especially the dip we had in January and New Year, six or seven points more now and we would have been really pushing for Europe.
“It's small margins but for West Brom to finish top eight would be a great achievement.”