West Ham United gave themselves a massive boost in the battle for Premier League survival with a crucial win last time out.
West Ham had been dragged into the thick of the relegation battle after a string of poor results culminating in the 3-0 defeat to Burnley which sparked fan protests on the London Stadium pitch.
But the East Londoners have given themselves real hope of Premier League survival with Saturday’s crucial 3-0 home win over Southampton.
The Hammers turned in one of their best performances of the last two seasons to dominate their relegation rivals and jump up to 14th in the congested table.
The win gives David Moyes‘ side a five point gap over the bottom three with seven games to go.
There is still plenty of work to do to secure survival and the club’s ability to attract and keep top players hinges on staying in the top flight.
One such player whose future directly depends on the Hammers staying up is Joao Mario. The midfield playmaker is on loan from Inter Milan and has impressed since signing in January.
He had his best game for West Ham in the win over the Saints, scoring a wonderful opener before setting up Marko Arnautovic to make it 2-0 with a superb cross.
And now the Portuguese European Championship winner has delivered a bold pledge to supporters over the club’s future in an interview with Sky Sports.
“We need to fight until the end,” Mario told Sky Sports.
“Everyone knows this is the whole point of our club. We need to be calm and play and for sure we’re going to stay in the Premier League.”
Do that and West Ham will surely look to make Mario’s deal permanent if they can agree a deal with Inter, who splashed out over £35million on the midfielder after his Euro 2016 heroics.
Mario’s comments come just days after he was quoted by Calciomercato insisting he wants a permanent move to the Hammers.
“I want to help West Ham stay in the Premier League, I want to show the fans what my value is, so I can stay here at the end of the season.”
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