Daws on Euro quest

Momentum is the key for Michael Dawson as we prepare to take on FC Dnipro in the Europa League this evening.

We enter the match off the back of consecutive Premier League victories and a fine European group stage campaign where we remained unbeaten, conceding only twice in six games.

Club skipper Michael believes building up a string of wins allows us to carry momentum into each game – and that’s something he believes could come into play in Ukraine tonight.

“Winning football matches breeds confidence whatever competition we’re playing in,” said Daws, who has so far made 38 European appearances for us, scoring twice.

“It did that early on in the season in the Europa League and we took it on into the Premier League. There’s no reason why we can’t do that now.

“We’ve come this far in the competition and we got to the quarter-finals last year – we want to go on and win it this time.

“We know the Premier League is a priority but every game you play you take seriously and we want to be in the next round.”

Like striker Harry Kane , Michael knows all about the threat of Dnipro attacker Yevhen Konoplyanka – having seen the forward in action for Ukraine against England in the World Cup qualifiers back in September.

And the 30-year-old knows we’ll have to maintain a solid defensive base to prevent Konoplyanka and his Dnipro colleagues from gaining a first leg advantage in our round of 32 tie.

“I’ve seen him when he played for Ukraine against England and he’s certainly direct,” Daws added. “He gets down the flanks and looks to get the ball in the box, but when you go away from home in Europe it’s always a different experience, a tough test and we’ve got to go there and be ready for the challenge.”