Jonas Olsson refutes West Brom have switched off
Jonas Olsson insists West Brom are being pushed as hard as ever in a bid to end their Premier League campaign as record-breakers.
The Baggies, with just three league wins since the turn of the year, are without a game this weekend and can do nothing about answering criticism that they have 'switched off' prematurely.
But the Swedish international defender is adamant that there has been no let-up from within the Hawthorns.
He said: "Steve Clarke, is pushing us as hard as ever. Neither the manager nor the players have been approaching these games differently than at the start of the season.
"We are approaching them in the same way as we have been doing all season. The coach mentions the 50-point target and he wants to go and push further than that.
"We set the 40-point mark and the next aim is to get to 50 and then beyond. We finished on 47 last year so we want to top that.
"Sitting on 44 points with eight games left as we were, if you don't make it to 50 points then you will be really disappointed."
But West Brom have only three wins since Boxing Day and as their hopes faded of becoming the first Baggies side for 30 years to reach European football so claims of an early fade-out have risen.
Now Olsson, who has repeated his commitment to the club despite talk of a move to London to be nearer his family home, is eager he and his team-mates do not end an acclaimed campaign on a sour note.
He says: "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, the Manchester clubs.
"Their financial resources make it very difficult to compete with but we showed this season, and we have a season where most things go our way, we can do it.
"There have been a few games where we have ended up short, especially the dip we had in January and New Year.
"Those 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. 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 or seven games."
