Jonas Olsson: Mel deserves a second shot with West Brom

The Baggies are within a point of maintaining their Premier League status with two games left but effectively have done it as Norwich need to win their only match left and force a 20-goal swing in their favour.

And defender Olsson believes the Spaniard has achieved his objective in keeping the club in the top flight.

"I'm sure he'll reflect on it now we're safe," said Olsson. "I can only speak for myself but I enjoy working with him.

"If he keeps the club up that's a good achievement from his point of view.

"Every time you change a manager in mid-season it's tough to get new ideas on board in a very short time.

"As the manager, it's difficult to plan for the future when you don't know where the club is going to be next year."

Albion finished eighth last season in their best Premier League finish but Olsson believes survival must always be their first aim.

"We need to be realistic, for a club of our size," he said. "You have targets and ambitions but, without taking my ambitions down, any season when West Brom stay in the Premier League is an OK achievement."

"It's a really tough league and you're going to have seasons like this if you're a club of our size.

"Look at Sunderland, Fulham and Cardiff this year – clubs with a far greater budget than we have.

"That's the reality of this league.

"You have six or seven teams fighting for title and Champions League places but after that it's quite similar and in a tough season you're going to be down there.

"Villa have struggled this year as well and that's the reality.

Olsson added: "I think Steve (Clarke) mentioned when he was sacked he was a victim of his own success and it's a good point.

"When you finish eighth you want to finish higher, but there needs to be a balance between ambition and realism and that's something to reflect on."

Olsson admitted however that the headlines off the field have been created because the team has under-performer.

"There are always small things like that when you're not performing the way you want to perform," he said.

"As in any business or community, when things aren't going well people are more edgy.

"I think it's a natural product of not performing as well as we should have done on the pitch."