West Ham United earned a vital three points against the Welsh outfit yesterday.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic spoke to reporters in the aftermath of his side’s huge 1-0 win over Swansea City yesterday, and expressed how surprised he was to see Cheikhou Kouyate open his Premier League goalscoring account this season, as quoted by the club’s official website.
The win against Paul Clement’s men was a hugely important one for West Ham, who now find themselves sitting far more comfortably in 14th position in the table, eight points clear of the Swans in 18th spot.
And Kouyate has once again been one of Bilic’s most important players, having full established himself as a key member of the Hammers side, since moving to East London from Anderlecht in the summer of 2014, for a fee believed to be in the region of £7 million.
The box-to-box midfielder scored five goals for West Ham during their superb Premier League campaign last term, but had not opened his account this season, before the game against Swansea.
And Bilic jokingly expressed his surprise that the Senegal intentional netted during yesterday’s win, as quoted by WHUFC.com:
West Ham United’s Cheikhou Kouyate celebrates
“We started the game well and had a couple of opportunities but then that goal was a little unexpected from Cheikhou! No, it was a great goal.”
With just one point now separating the Hammers and 10th placed Watford, they must be targeting a finish inside the top half of the Premier League table, which would actually represent quite a turnaround after some of the depths to which they have sunk so far this term.
And a win against rock-bottom Sunderland next weekend would all but secure their Premier League status for next season.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
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