EXPERIENCED number eight Gerrit-Jan van Velze insists Worcester Warriors will need to keep their “foot on the pedal” to see off relegation-threatened London Irish tomorrow (1pm).

Warriors are 16 points clear of bottom club Irish and know a victory at the Madejski Stadium will all but retain their Aviva Premiership status.

The Exiles have won just one league game all season while Worcester are in form having secured back-to-back victories over defending champions Exeter Chiefs and local rivals Gloucester.

But van Velze believes his team will be in for a battle against a “dogged” Irish side who will be desperate to keep their hopes of avoiding the drop alive.

“Irish are a very good side,” van Velze said.

“They don’t take a lot of risks which makes them very structured and difficult to defend when you can’t take away the gain-line.

"It is going to be a breakdown battle.

“They are a well-coached side but the one thing nobody can coach is that doggedness and they don’t fall away so it is about us putting our foot to the pedal for the full 80 minutes.”

Van Velze was delighted with how well Warriors “executed under pressure” against Exeter and Gloucester.

And Alan Solomons’ men will look to repeat the trick as they bid to register a third successive victory.

“We want to stay on the route we are on which is working for us and we want to push forward with that,” the 30-year-old said.

“But this is a massive game for Irish as well so we have got to turn up mentally for this.

“We have shown a lot of hunger over the last two weeks and if we show anything less than that it is going to be a very tough day at the office.”

Warriors have been locked in a relegation battle with Irish since the start of the season as they lost their opening seven Premiership matches.

But after moving off the bottom with a win over Northampton Saints in November Worcester have opened up a bigger gap between themselves and Irish who they defeated 23-8 at Sixways in December.

And van Velze, who is no stranger to being in a fight for survival with Warriors, says the belief has grown within the squad.

“Because of the start we had to the season it was always difficult to avoid the conversation about us, London Irish and relegation,” he said.

“We have put ourselves in that position again.

“Luckily enough or unluckily enough — it depends on how you look at it — we have been in this position for the past three years.

“We have been forced to mature having played under this pressure.

“But for us as players it was never between us and Irish. It was always about our own performances.

“We knew we were not far off from getting results even though it did not look like that earlier in the season.

“But there were glimpses like the games against Northampton, Leicester and Irish and the match away at Saracens where we got a bonus point in the 79th minute.

“Those were all glimpses which filled us with a bit more belief and for a young squad that was very powerful.”