Lewis Dunk joked that it was nice to finish the season without the threat of relegation looming over the players’ shoulders.
Albion ended the campaign with a record Premier League points tally and an all-time highest finish in the top-flight of ninth.
While that brought a real sense of pride for the club captain, he said aiming to finish as high as possible rather than avoid relegation is a pressure he far prefers dealing with.
“It’s been the best Premier League season for us by far," Lewis said. "It was nice to be comfortable for once and not looking over your shoulder! We were looking over our shoulders on the last day against West Ham because we wanted to finish in the top ten. It’s been great not to have been worried about relegation.
“Comparing it to previous good years is a hard to judge, because winning promotion to the Premier League was a dream come true and it was amazing.
“As a club we’ve always wanted to break into the top ten and finally we have achieved that. It was an unbelievable finish to the season.”
While Albion have found their form in the run-in, Dunky thinks the summer break has come at the right time for the squad.
“As a team it’s probably come at a good time to have a rest. Personally I have had a difficult season, I got into my stride and then I picked up the knee injury.
“I finished the season back at the level that I know I can perform and so when it came to an end there was a little bit of personal frustration. So I’ve got to work hard in the summer, have a good rest as well and come back stronger than ever.”
A run of six defeats left Albion in 13th spot in mid-March, before they picked up 17 points in their final eight fixtures. The 30-year-old believes Albion showed their mettle to turn things around after such a difficult run.
“We went through a really rough patch in the middle of the season and our away form was a lot better than our home form.
“The fans have had to put up with some not so good performances at the Amex, but to finish the season so strongly was a real positive and hopefully it feels like we’ve put a few things right.”