Craig Gardner sets a double goal for Baggies

Craig Gardner has set Albion a dual target for the new season – a top-10 finish and a crack at silverware.

The Baggies midfielder wants to help restore the club to the top half of the Premier League as well as challenging for glory in the FA Cup and Capital One Cup.

They reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup last season but lost agonisingly to local rivals Villa, while they have finished below halfway in the last two top-flight seasons after back-to-back top-10 finishes under Roy Hodgson and Steve Clarke.

"With the way we finished last season, if we can take that into this season I can't see any reason why we can't push hard for a top-10 finish," said Gardner, speaking in Orlando during the club's pre-season tour.

"We've got everything in place. We've got a great bunch of lads, a great coaching staff and manager so I don't see why we can't really push on. We were talking the other day and we said we wanted a good cup run. We do really want to push on.

"That Villa loss was tough to take but it's a new season now. We've had a good start to pre-season and we don't want to let it go to waste.

"We want to take it into the start of the season and really push on."

Albion have three games in the United States and three in England before the Premier League season kicks off at home to Manchester City on August 10.

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That begins a tough opening month for Tony Pulis's men, but Gardner is not concerned by the tricky fixture list.

"It doesn't really matter," he said. "You've got to play them all at some part of the season so it doesn't matter when you play them. We finished last season really strongly, we got through that and we're ready to kick on now."