Maxwel Cornet is looking forward to playing his part in helping to push West Ham United up the Premier League table over the closing stages of the campaign.
The Ivory Coast forward came off the bench against Aston Villa on Sunday to make his first Premier League outing since suffering a calf injury last October, and build on the minutes he gained in Thursday night’s UEFA Europa Conference League victory over AEK Larnaca.
While the Hammers were unable to claim a late winner from Sunday’s meeting with the Villans, Saïd Benrahma’s 26th-minute penalty, which cancelled out Ollie Watkins’ early header, did see the east Londoners climb out of the division’s bottom three.
Now, Cornet is determined to ensure that climb continues when the domestic action returns following the international break, fit, firing and ready to contribute to the effort.
It feels really good to be back with the lads.
It was a while that I was away, but now I’m really happy to be in the squad and try to help the guys.
It has not been easy [because the injury was complicated].
All the West Ham staff have did really well with me. Now it’s okay, I’m feeling very good, with confidence, and let’s move forward.
I worked hard [during my recovery] in France, because I already knew it would be tough when I came back.
We have a lot of [weekend then] midweek games and I have to be ready and that’s why I really [put the work in] over there in France.
It was a really frustrating game, but when we can’t win it’s important not to lose.
We were strong, we conceded the first goal, but we scored with Saïd and that was important for the mind and the confidence for the next game.
We really showed our character today. It was important to continue on the same way following the [win against AEK Larnaca in the UEFA] Europa Conference League and like I said, if we can’t win it’s important not to lose – and it will be an important point at the end of the season.
It’s important to win the game against AEK Larnaca before the international break.
It's important for the confidence and to go to the national team [feeling good], and when we’re back to be ready to do the work.
