Club News

Olsson: Spurs clash could suit us

Defender hopes Baggies can match displays they put in against other big guns

JONAS Olsson is hoping Albion can once again raise the bar against a Barclays Premier League big gun in their Boxing Day clash at Tottenham (ko 3pm).

The 16th-placed Baggies have already earned notable draws against three of the top five this term – Arsenal at home and Everton and Chelsea away.

Now they face a seventh-placed Spurs team, who beat Southampton 3-2 on Sunday under the charge of interim boss Tim Sherwood.

“This year we have tended to put in our best performances against the bigger teams so hopefully this will be a game that suits us,” said Olsson.
 
“Of course after a bad run we are now looking down but last season I think we played some really good football, and that is the way this league is.

“You have the top four or five and after that there are 14 or 15 teams that are quite similar.

“In a good season you will be up there in seventh, eighth or ninth, but you have to be humble as well and realise that in a bad season you’re going to be looking down.

“But I do think we have a lot of quality in the team and we will be fine.

“We have to stick to what we did well last year and what we’ve been doing well for a big part of this season as well.

“It’s important when you’re looking down not to get away from the things you do well.

“If you do that you lose your way a little bit.

“You need to believe in what you do and we showed that on Saturday.

“We were patient and we tried to keep possession and open them up.

“But Hull are a good side.

“They’re organised and difficult to break down, so I think we did well - and we’ll be fine.

“We always speak of goals and ambitions for the season and the ambition is to finish up there again, but always with ambitions you need to be humble as well and realise that this is a really tough league.

“You have to keep that at the back of your mind.”

The Sweden international was delighted to see Matej Vydra get off the mark for the season with his last-gasp leveller against Hull on Saturday.

And he hopes it sparks the rest of the Baggies’ frontline strikers, who only have seven goals between them this term, to kick on.

“He did well when he came in but there are players who have been playing ahead of him who have also done very well,” Olsson added.

“It’s good that we have a lot of different qualities up front.

“We’ve got Vic [Anichebe] with his physical presence, Shane [Long] with his ability to run for 90 minutes and we have Matej and Saido [Berahino], who are very lethal in front of goal.

“It’s good to have all of those different qualities, and Matej showed on Saturday that he’s an impact player.

“It was very important for him to get that goal and it was vital for us as well.”