West Ham United winger Dan Kemp says the competition amongst the attacking players in the Premier League 2 squad is fierce ahead of the side’s London derby against Tottenham Hotspur on Monday.
Academy Director and manager of the team Terry Westley has the likes of Sead Haksabanovic, Martin Samuelsen, Nathan Holland, Grady Diangana and Joe Powell – as well as Kemp – currently fit to choose from.
A trio of new signing Haksabanovic, Norway international Samuelsen and former Everton man Holland started behind Toni Martinez in attack against Swindon Town last week, and the Hammers were devastating going forward, scoring three times to beat the League Two outfit.
And Kemp – who scored the winner from the bench in the 3-2 win at the County Ground – insisted the competition for places in the starting XI is healthy.
“We’re all pushing each other on every day,” said the England U19 international. “There is loads of competition but my job is to keep doing the best I can in training and in games and to make sure that I am starting.
“It’s definitely healthy to have that though. As long as you’re strong minded, and not mentally weak, it’s good. You’ve got to really believe you deserve to be in the team.
There is loads of competition but my job is to keep doing the best I can in training and in games and to make sure that I am starting
Dan Kemp
“Obviously we’re all good friends as well but ultimately it comes down to pushing each other on, congratulating each other but knowing you want to start and adding pressure onto yourself to do that.
“So everyone is really looking forward to Spurs. We beat them in pre-season and although that’s only a friendly, it builds confidence. We’ll go into the game positively and with loads of confidence from that and from Tuesday.”
The clash at Spurs’ Enfield training centre will be the first of three competitive meetings this season, with the London rivals having been drawn together in the Premier League International Cup.
West Ham were 3-2 winners in the pre-season meeting just a couple of weeks ago, and with that in mind as well as Tuesday’s victory of the same scoreline, Kemp is in high spirits.
“I’m personally really confident at the moment too. On Tuesday, it was great to come into the game and straight away do a few good dribbles and then score pretty quickly after that. To score the winner was brilliant, and it was a great feeling to run over to the fans!
“Obviously I’m an attacking player and I want to score, that’s my job, so I feel like I did it the other night and it’s just even more helpful that it’s given us the three points.
“These games are good for us to show people what we can do. Obviously to score the winner is special for me personally, but it was a good competitive game and it means a lot.
“Hopefully we can do the same again at Tottenham and get the win.”