Jonny Evans believes West Brom can qualify for Europe in the next two years
Monday 28 September 2015 10:39, UK
Jonny Evans believes West Brom can push on under Tony Pulis and even qualify for European football in the next two years.
The centre-back joined the Hawthorns club in the summer from Manchester United and having settled into life at the club quickly, he is now aiming to help Albion on to bigger and better things.
The Baggies finished 13th last season having been one point above the drop zone when Pulis took over in January but Evans sees that as just the start.
"Any team from last year, when the manager came in, I think West Brom were around the relegation zone," he told Soccer Saturday.
"I think having survived that, you want to push on and get into the top 10, maybe even if things go well this year reaching Europe - or maybe that can come next year."
If West Brom are to fulfil such ambitions, then maintaining their impressive defensive record is likely to be crucial.
Albion have not conceded in their last three league games and have kept a total of five clean sheets in all competitions so far this season.
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"I think since Tony Pulis has come into West Brom, he's had a good record with clean sheets," said Evans.
"I think that's something he takes pride in when his teams are playing, so thankfully we've been able to help him carry that on.
"It's nice as a defender when you're keeping clean sheets but you want to win games, that's the most important thing. Obviously, keeping clean sheets definitely help that."
At the other end of the pitch, it has been more of a struggle with just four league goals in six games but things are moving in the right direction on that front, according to Evans.
"I think if you look from my first game against Southampton at home - where we didn't really create any chances - to a week later against Aston Villa away, we created more, scored a goal obviously and we passed the ball a lot better," the Northern Ireland international said.
"I think the manager has to take credit for that. He encourages that from us in training during the week and I think it paid off."
West Brom have also been boosted by the return of Saido Berahino after a move to Tottenham failed to materialise.
His public spat with the club is in the past now and Evans is just happy to have the striker back in the team.
"We're obviously delighted if he's scoring goals for us and he's scored in the Midlands derby, which made it a little bit sweeter," he added.
"He's a fantastic player and from what I've seen of him so far, he's a great finisher, he's a conscientious lad and he wants to progress and improve himself.
"Things happen in football, we've all been in situations or been in teams where things like that have happened so once you're back on the training pitch you just go out and play football."
Next up for West Brom is a home game with Everton on Monday Night Football and Evans is expecting a difficult game against Roberto Martinez's side.
"I think they've had a decent start to the season," he said. "I'm sure we'll study their games this week, see what tactics they like to use and try to counteract that and impose our own strengths against them.
"They've always been tough games, especially the games away from home. It's obviously at home on Monday night but going away to Everton has always been tough. Over the last couple of years, their squad has changed quite a lot and they play quite an attacking style of play."
Watch West Brom v Everton on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports 1 HD from 7pm.
