Caretaker boss James Shan: West Brom should still target top two

Shan, who is targeting a second win as caretaker boss this weekend, knows it will be a tall order to catch the three teams above the Baggies.

Albion are currently nine points off the top two, but Shan believes the squad is capable of winning every game left in order to break the 90-point mark.

“My brain works different to most,” he said. “I look at it that there’s nine games left, there’s 27 points available, there’s no reason why we can’t nick them. We have a very good squad to an excellent squad.

“My mindset is every game we go into, there’s three points available, we should do our best to max it.

“How many points would that give us? 91 points? I know you’ve got to catch people ahead of you, but you’ve seen how demanding this league is. It’s thrown up lots of strange results.

“We’ve got to take care of our business and try and maximise three points every game and see where we are at the end of the season.

“If we happen to finish in the play offs, then we obviously have three extra games to prepare for.

“But me being an optimist I’m still looking at automatic promotion. Let’s just win every game and get up as quick as we can.”

First up is Brentford, and Shan is looking to make it two wins from two after beating Swansea on Wednesday night.

“It’d be a magnificent achievement I guess and one I’d have great pride in,” he said. “Ultimately I’ve been asked to step in and do a job to the best of my ability and I need to target three points.”

He admitted there was added pressure leading the first team, but it’s one he’s relishing.

“The pressure comes from having lots of people to manage,” he said. “It’s not just the team, it’s the squad, it’s staff.

“It’s being pulled out of meetings with staff to game plan and prepare, getting pulled here and there.

“Those things are new to me. It happened on a mini scale when I was 23s coach, but not at this level or scale.”