Bilic: It ain’t so easy at top

SLAVEN BILIC has issued a defiant message that West Bromwich Albion can cope with the pressure of chasing automatic promotion.

The Baggies boss says lockdown has changed the emphasis on the race to the Premier League.

Bilic (above) heaved a sigh of relief in midweek as a three-goal win at Sheffield Wednesday pushed the one-time Championship pacesetters back on the heels of table-topping Leeds United.

West Brom had taken just one point from their opening two fixtures, leading to suggestions that the boys from the Black Country were losing their bottle.

But the former West Ham chief says the threemonth sabbatical has added to the pressure.

He said: “When you are in the top two, it’s not,

‘Are we going to make it?’, it’s more, “Are we going to lose it?’

“We knew that. We didn’t need those three games since lockdown to find that out. We can cope with that.

“As I said after Brentford, maybe the others are under less pressure, but I wouldn’t swap with them.

“We’ve been in this position for the whole season – and I loved it, I loved it that the reaction to us not picking up points was, ‘Oh, it’s really bad’.

“But if you look at the teams around us that were in the top seven before the restart... OK, Brentford, maximum points... Forest seven points... but after that we are in big trouble.

“But we have got the same points as Leeds. Fulham have fewer points, not to mention Preston and Bristol City.

“It’s not like everyone else is flying and we are in a real crisis.

“I’m glad that the group here reacted very quickly at Sheffield Wednesday. I said, ‘Listen, guys, this isn’t good enough. We have got to do it.’

The Baggies have struggled against the Championship’s lower lights at The Hawthorns.

So far this season they have lost to Wigan, Stoke and Middlesbrough, who are all near the foot of the table, and drew with struggling Barnsley.

Hull may have picked up their first win since the New Year with an injurytime 2-1 victory over Middlesbrough, but Bilic says the outcome is in West Brom’s hands.

He said: “Against these teams we have lacked intensity. It was us who lacked focus.

“In those games, we didn’t provoke things on the pitch. We were waiting for something to happen by default.

“Nothing happens by default in football, you have to earn it. There are no free lunches in the Championship.”