West Ham United skipper Mark Noble has welcomed the pressure of challenging for European football ahead of the last three games of the season.
As the Hammers prepare to host Swansea City on Saturday, they sit five points behind fourth place Manchester City with a game in hand and the No16 believes his team will thrive with that carrot dangling in their sights.
He said: “We haven’t lost in ten in the league, so our confidence is high. We’ve got a good squad, a good bunch of players. We’ve got three games to go now and fully concentrating on Swansea because that’s the most important one for us right now.
“We want to be challenging for something at this stage of the season [as we are], so if we have the pressures of challenging for Europe every year then I’m sure everyone will be happy.
“The last two games have been kind to me with four goals, and to be where we are now, challenging for the top four or top six is fantastic for us.”
The team’s focus is squarely on Swansea however, with Noble under no illusions as to the test they will provide.
He added: “At one point it looked like Swansea were flirting with the bottom three, but they’ve had a great run of form to get out of trouble.
“They’ve got great players, they pass the ball really well and they’ve deserved [to move away from danger].
"I watched their game against Liverpool last week and I thought they were really good."