And defender looking forward to having Lukaku back for crucial Swans clash
JONAS Olsson believes Albion’s performance in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Chelsea was evidence enough they will not settle for 40 points this season.The ninth-placed Baggies came close to snatching a draw at the home of the European champions, following back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Sunderland.
And the Sweden international insists his sights are firmly fixed on trying to achieve a top-six finish.
“We are all professionals and we always have something to strive for,” said Olsson.
“If you reach your first goal, you set another one, and we showed at Chelsea that we’re not going to settle for 40 points.
“Everyone in the starting XI and the people that came on showed there is a real desire to go and push for the top six or top seven.
“If we have been up there for 28 or 29 rounds, why can’t we be there after 38?
“That’s what I think is realistic.
“There is too big a gap up to the top five, but there are four or five teams pushing for sixth or seventh.
“If we can perform the way we have been in the last couple of weeks we have every chance.
“It was close on Saturday but 1-0 was a fair result.
“They were better than us but when you’re only behind by one you have a feeling you might catch a lucky break.
“In the last 10 or 15 we pushed on and, especially on set-pieces, a bit of luck would have got us a result.
“There were a few sitters they missed.
"It’s easy to talk about good defending but they had a few opportunities to score a few more.
“It felt pretty far from a clean sheet.
“But they are a good side and they attack with a lot of players.”
Steve Clarke’s ninth-placed outfit were without 12-goal top scorer Romelu Lukaku at Stamford Bridge as he was ineligible to play against his parent club.
And Olsson is looking forward to being able to call on his services again in Saturday’s crucial home clash with Swansea, who are only above Albion in the table on goal difference.
“There is always an impact when you can’t use a player that scored 12 goals for you, but we beat Chelsea in October and Rom didn’t play then," he added.
“Of course we missed a player who has done well for us and has been on a very good run, but the ones who played like Shane [Long] gave us an injection and Jerome [Thomas] and Peter [Odemwingie] gave us something off the bench.”