Ben Davies has been encouraged by the grit and determination we have shown in recent weeks.
With five games in just 13 days the team’s fitness and resolve has certainly been tested, but our efforts have been rewarded as we head into the international break on the back of four straight wins.
After a narrow loss to champions and leaders Manchester City two weeks ago, we’ve progressed to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup with a win over West Ham and kept our Champions League hopes alive by defeating PSV Eindhoven, while hard-fought away wins at Wolves and Crystal Palace pushed us back into the Premier League’s top four.
In the hectic period of fixtures, the team has had to battle to grind out the recent wins – something which Ben feels is testament to the character in the side.
“Sometimes football matches are not pretty, they might not be unbelievable performances, but these are the games you have to win,” Ben reflected.
“We can play some great football at times but this year we’ve shown we’ve got a bit of grit as well and we can fight through a few games. At times, especially at the end of games, you just have to scrap it out and that’s what we have done.
“It has been a tough spell, a lot of games but that’s what you want as a team. To win them makes it all better.”
The busy run of matches – seven in 21 days between international breaks - has seen us use 23 players with our options on the bench playing a key role in seeing us through the period.
Saturday’s 1-0 win over Palace was a key example of this as Serge Aurier was forced to join the action midway through the first-half with Kieran Trippier unable to continue.
Quick switches like this, however, are part and parcel of football and Ben felt his defensive colleague deputised superbly at short notice. The Welsh full-back was also full of praise for central defender Juan Foyth, who marked the end of a superb week for himself by bagging the match winner, his first Premier League goal, in the win at Selhurst Park.
“Changes during the game are something you have to expect sometimes, it’s a squad game and everyone has to be ready,” he explained.
“The players on the bench are always ready to do their jobs and I think Serge did brilliantly. It’s hard as a defender to come in so early but he did very well.
“Juan’s been flying but we see it every day in training. He’s been one of the hardest workers in training for the last year-and-a-half since he arrived, and he’s come on leaps and bounds. You can see from the celebrations how pleased the boys were to see him score that goal.”