Craig Dawson: Bring on the big guns

The Baggies host champions-elect Chelsea at The Hawthorns this Friday before travelling to Manchester City next Tuesday.

They finish their season away at the Liberty Stadium a week on Sunday, where hosts Swansea may be fighting for their Premier League survival.

But Dawson, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Saturday with a goal against Burnley, is relishing the opportunity to end on some noteworthy results.

“We’ve got some tough games coming up,” he admitted. “But they’re the games everybody wants to play in, they’re exciting games.

“Hopefully we can work hard on the training pitch and get positive results from those three games and finish the season off well.”

Albion stopped the rot on Saturday after four defeats on the spin with a 2-2 draw at Turf Moor. Salomon Rondon scored the club’s first goal in almost nine hours and then 12 minutes later, Dawson added a second.

The Baggies may have struggled for goals in recent weeks but the right-back is enjoying a rich vein of form in front of goal and has now scored four of the team’s last seven.

“It’s something we’ve been working hard on,” he said. “We’ve played well in recent games but not quite had that luck in front of goal.

“I was on a bit of a drought myself up until a few games ago so it’s always nice to pop up with a goal.”

Jonny Evans limped off shortly after half-time on Saturday with an ankle twist, and when Tony Pulis brought on Allan Nyom, he moved Dawson inside to his preferred centre-back position.

Evans was treated at the training ground yesterday and is now facing a race to be fit for Friday night’s game against Chelsea.

If the Northern Irishman doesn’t recover in time it would open the door for Dawson to stake another claim in the middle.

The 27-year-old’s current contract is up at the end of next season but Albion have offered him a new long-term deal.

Dawson has only missed one Premier League game over the past two seasons and that was because of suspension.

Negotiations are ongoing, and both the club and the player expect them to be concluded soon.

His long-term position on the pitch was the only predicted sticking point, but Dawson confirmed he was happy to do a job at full-back.

“Obviously I want to play centre-half, but I’ve been playing right-back and I’m enjoying it,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been playing well and learning the game there.

“You’ve just got to wait for your chance and hopefully when it comes, take it. But I’m happy to be learning and just keeping playing.”