Ben Johnson feels that West Ham United have every chance of making the final two months of the 2021/22 season a very special time for everyone involved with the Club.
The Hammers face Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League – their eighth game in just 24 days across three different competitions – riding high from their historic UEFA Europa League exploits in midweek.
Aware of the need to refocus after that dramatic, unforgettable evening – coming back from a single-goal deficit in the first leg to beat Europa League favourites Sevilla 2-1 on aggregate after extra-time, at a raucous London Stadium – Johnson is anticipating a tough test on Sunday.
Yet as the full-back told rapper and West Ham fan Guvna B on an Instagram Live, this team will give everything for the Club in the pursuit of more magical memories like Thursday…
It was probably one of the Club’s most important nights for over a decade.
Of course, we had the FA Cup Final in 2006 and we’ve had a few cup finals in previous years before that. It was probably one of our most important games, but everyone felt relaxed out there.
We didn’t really seem too fazed. Everyone felt confident we were going to win. It was strange – we’ve had this feeling for a while, every game we go into we just feel like we’re going to win, no matter who we play.
It just shows you the direction we’re trying to go and of course, all the fans helping...
It was so different. The noise was different to a normal matchday, or even like a big game when we’ve played Spurs or Chelsea.
The noise was on a different level. I think there was just that excitement, that apprehension, and everyone was just so expectant. Everyone felt like as you do when you’re a boy when you start watching football.
Even us playing… not many of us have played on this stage. Of course, you’ve got Dec [Rice], who’s played in huge games, but not many of us have played in games like that, and against a team who were probably favourites for the whole tournament. It was special.
The fans gave us that edge. As you could see in the last 30 minutes of extra-time, everyone was still going. Everyone still had some sort of energy in them, and that’s to do with the fans roaring us on, and when Pablo [Fornals] cut inside and Yarmo slotted it in.. that feeling!
With the atmosphere, we always felt like they were on the back foot, and our press was really good. They couldn’t get any opportunities as they did in the first leg when their wide men were quite influential. On Thursday they weren’t, and I felt it was a credit to the back four and everyone.
Watching the quarter-final and semi-final draw earlier, as every West Ham fan did, on paper we’ve got to beat Lyon first, and if we win that, we play Barcelona or Eintracht Frankfurt.
We’re at the level now where all the teams are as good as each other, and on your day you can beat them. As you saw on Thursday, we’re as good as those teams.
Of course, they play differently, but we’re not going to be worrying about any other team – we’re just going to play our football and that’s how it’s got to be. I don’t think we’re worried about anyone else – we’re more excited to play them, really.
Why not think that we can win it? We are good enough and I think we’ve shown over the last couple of seasons that we can lock horns with the best players and the best teams in the league, and win the Europa League, because we deserve to be there with the way we play.
Every game is going to be tough. Every game is going to be gruelling, especially in the Premier League.
You know what you’re going to get in the league. Tottenham have got some terrific players like [Harry] Kane and [Heung-Min] Son, and [Dejan] Kulusevski coming in, so it’s going to be a tough game, but we’re looking forward to it.
We’re going to be analysing them and seeing what we can do and seeing what we can bring on Sunday, and of course it’s a huge game that means a lot to us players and fans, so we’re going to give it our all out there as we did in the return game earlier in the season when we won 1-0.
Of course, we’ve got an international break then, so after that, we’ll focus on playing Lyon. We’re very confident and we just want to do the fans proud.
Every game we’ve got – however many we’ve got left – it’s going to be a great end to the season for everyone involved for the Club.
