Club News

Brunt: Europe may have to wait

But skipper insists it is not beyond Baggies if they continue progressing

CHRIS Brunt reckons European qualification may be beyond Albion this season - but believes the club can get there in the future.

With eight games remaining the eighth-placed Baggies would now have to finish fifth to secure a spot in the Europa League - and they are six points adrift of Arsenal, who occupy that position and have played a match less.

But the Hawthorns skipper is proud of the progress Albion have made over his six seasons at the club and hopes they can continue the momentum they have built up next term.

“The aim now is to finish better than we did last year,” said Brunt.

“We’ve got to finish higher up the table and with more points.

“That would be a successful season for us.

“People have been talking about Europe but it’s probably a step too far now, and for a club of our size it would probably be a bit of a stretch on resources.

“If it happened it would be great but it would be tough.

“Every year I’ve been here we have improved.

“One season we were relegated but we probably even improved in that season through being in the Premier League.

“We’ve just got to keep improving as a club.

“The squad is stronger and we’ve got better players and we just need to keep adding to that and doing what we’re doing.

“It’s a club going places at the moment and it’s a good place to be.”

He added: “Europe may be a target if we can hold onto the players we’ve got and build on it. Why not?

“But we’ve seen how it affected Newcastle this season.

“It’s difficult because there are a lot of games to be played and we don’t have the biggest squad at the moment.

“At the moment it would be a difficult task, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t get there if we keep doing what we’re doing.”