Joel Veltman believes reaching Europe for the second successive season is a realistic target for Albion.
The run-in starts against Liverpool at Anfield today and the Dutch defender believes it’s a good thing that the focus can now be entirely on our ten remaining Premier League games.
Albion could climb to seventh with victory and their recent record against Liverpool – just one defeat in their last seven matches – will give them confidence.
“We’ve got the Europa League [exit] out of our system and now we focus on trying to get it again next season. Finishing sixth or seventh is realistic for us I think - we’re going for it,” said Veltman.
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“We had good results in our last games before the international break against Roma and Forest but we’ve recharged the batteries and it’s a nice feeling that we have one thing to fully focus on ten Premier League games, which is still a quarter of the season.
“True we have some tough fixtures. We play the top three but also some lower teams. It’s going to be difficult but we’re going to Anfield to win and we have to believe that we can do it.”
Roberto De Zerbi’s first game in charge was the 3-3 draw in October 2022 and Veltman also played in the 1-0 win in February 2021 when Steven Alzate got the only goal. But he recognises that a Liverpool team who could return to the top of the table with victory will provide extremely strong opposition.
“Liverpool have a lot of quality with amazing players who can come from the bench so it’s a big challenge for us,” he added.