Cheikhou Kouyate was delighted to end his wait for a goal at West Brom on Saturday
Cheikhou Kouyate was in fine spirits after Saturday’s 3-0 win over West Brom with his first-half goal changing the balance of the game and allowing the team to push on and grab two more.
After struggling to take advantage of his chances in the past couple of weeks, the Senagalese was delighted to get on the score sheet.
He said: “The first 15 minutes were a bit difficult, we were too rigid and the opposition were playing well and had a couple of chances. Luckily, Adrian and Antonio were there to save us. After we scored the first goal, the game became easier for us.
“I am really pleased to have scored. In the past few weeks, I have had a few chances and I just couldn’t score. Dimitri Payet didn’t stop telling me that I never score, so today is a good day for me and my goal came at just the right time to make things simpler for us.”
After struggling to take advantage of his chances in the past couple of weeks, the Senagalese was delighted to get on the score sheet.
He said: “The first 15 minutes were a bit difficult, we were too rigid and the opposition were playing well and had a couple of chances. Luckily, Adrian and Antonio were there to save us. After we scored the first goal, the game became easier for us.
“I am really pleased to have scored. In the past few weeks, I have had a few chances and I just couldn’t score. Dimitri Payet didn’t stop telling me that I never score, so today is a good day for me and my goal came at just the right time to make things simpler for us.”
Kouyate feels that captain Mark Noble continues to go underrated and doesn’t understand how an England call-up continues to evade him. With three ‘finals’ to go, he feels the fans will continue to play an important role and hopes that the can guide the Hammers to success.
He added: “First of all, Mark is a leader. He is our captain and he is constantly pushing us forward and he is always positive. Having him in our team helps us relax and in the last two games he has scored four goals. He deserves it and I don’t see why he shouldn’t get a call-up for the national team.
“As I said before today, we had four ‘finals’ to go. We have played one of them and so we have three to go. We will take it match-by-match, starting with a difficult match against Swansea next weekend and of course, we will play that to win. We know that it won’t be easy, but we are at home and we will give our all to get the win.
“The fans have been fantastic all season. We know that today is a big game and they have pushed us on towards success. A team is not just made up of players, but you’ve also got the staff, the Chairmen and then today, the supporters who have had an incredible impact on the team. We can only thank them.”
He added: “First of all, Mark is a leader. He is our captain and he is constantly pushing us forward and he is always positive. Having him in our team helps us relax and in the last two games he has scored four goals. He deserves it and I don’t see why he shouldn’t get a call-up for the national team.
“As I said before today, we had four ‘finals’ to go. We have played one of them and so we have three to go. We will take it match-by-match, starting with a difficult match against Swansea next weekend and of course, we will play that to win. We know that it won’t be easy, but we are at home and we will give our all to get the win.
“The fans have been fantastic all season. We know that today is a big game and they have pushed us on towards success. A team is not just made up of players, but you’ve also got the staff, the Chairmen and then today, the supporters who have had an incredible impact on the team. We can only thank them.”