Jonas Olsson says it is vital for West Bromwich Albion to produce positive results in games against the clubs situated around them on the table.
The Baggies have dropped their past two matches - against Arsenal and Liverpool - and although the Swedish centre-half admits the team has not performed recently, he feels it more important to get points against the likes of Bolton who they meet at home after the international break.
"It always knocks your confidence a little bit when you lose back-to-back games - no matter who they're against," he told the club's official website.
"We said in the locker room at Arsenal afterwards that 'we didn't get anything out of these games but these are not the games that are going to keep us in the league.
"We need to get good results against the teams around us. The games coming up are really important ones.
"If you look at the last two games, we weren't, maybe, at our best.
"To be fair to Arsenal and Liverpool, they played very well and sometimes you have to put your hands up and say they were better than us.
"We showed last year we can compete with those teams but to get anything against them something has to click and we have to be at our very best.
"We weren't on Saturday, nor against Liverpool. That's the way I see it."
