Kurt Zouma believes West Ham United will take the confidence drawn from Thursday’s UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 first-leg win at AEK Larnaca into today’s Premier League fixture with Aston Villa…
It was very important to bounce back, especially after the defeat at the weekend. We let the fans down at Brighton and we let ourselves down as well, so we wanted to bounce back.
This is what is good about football, that you can bounce back in the next game and I think that’s what we did on Thursday.
We were focused on getting the win and getting a clean sheet as well. It was a difficult place to go, but we got what we wanted and then travelled back on Friday to recover and prepare for today’s game.
Our win was a good statement. We know the second leg will be at home and it’s going to be difficult as we cannot underestimate any teams.
They played well on Thursday as well and gave us some little problems, so we need to sort them out for next week and obviously play well.
We have got an advantage, but we need to win the game, complete the job and get through.
We have got quality, of that there is no doubt, but our confidence needs to grow for us to get back to our level. Hopefully now, with a win and with a clean sheet as well for us defenders, that confidence will grow and we can get more results, especially in the Premier League where we need some results.
I played alongside Nayef in a back four and we’ve been doing that in training for a long time now and with him, he’s a quality player as we all know, and I am here to help him.
He’s here to help me as well and obviously our communication is good because we can talk in French as well. We try to do our best, but the most important thing is the whole team.
We are quite experienced and we also have other players on the bench who can bring their own experience.
We have got a good team, not just the starters but the whole squad, but we have got to show it on the pitch and get our confidence growing.
We play Aston Villa at home today and every game we play is a big game at the moment, especially with the position we’re in.
In my opinion, we don’t deserve to be in the position we are in, but we are where we are and we obviously have to deal with it.
The team is fully prepared and, as I said, the win in Cyprus should help us and bring us confidence for this afternoon. We are at home and I am sure the fans will be behind us and helping us.
We are in a good run at home and we need to use the support of the fans and be ready.
