YOURI Djorkaeff is confident Wanderers' high profile players will thrive on the pressure as the battle for Premiership survival enters its final phase.
The legendary World Cup and European Championship winner says it is no coincidence that he and his big-name teammates Jay-Jay Okocha and Ivan Campo are making their quality count the more the tension mounts.
"We are used to playing with lots of pressure," says the mercurial Frenchman. "All my life I have played with lots of pressure.
"For me the more pressure, the more I play well."
Wanderers are in their best form of the season, stringing together their best run of results - three wins, two draws and one defeat in the last six games - to give themselves a fighting chance of beating the drop and securing a third successive season of top flight football. Should they succeed, the huge investment in the "Big Three", which has taken the club's wage bill to unprecedented heights, will pay the richest of dividends.
Man of the match in Monday's vital victory over Spurs when he won the last-gasp penalty Okocha converted to snatch a dramatic three points, Djorkaeff believes they have a responsibility to bring their influence to bear.
"I think players like Jay-Jay, like me and like Ivan have shown there is a way," he explained. "The other players follow us because they know we have the experience."
Wanderers are jubilant after recording back-to-back wins for only the second time this season and Djorkaeff believes they have the character as well as the class to press on in their final seven games and put their relegation fears behind them.
"The win against Tottenham was well-deserved," he added. "They are a big team but the football we played was good. We have shown we can play like this and we can win like this.
"And, when you think of all the points we have lost in the last seconds of matches, I cannot find the word in English but you can say it was unbelievable.
"We are now very close to teams like Leeds and Aston Villa and I am not sure other teams can fight like we fight.
"I'm sure that winning this game, we have taken a big step up.
"We can be proud of our victory because we always believed in the victory."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article