Chicharito has explained how his clinical equaliser at Chelsea was down to far more than just chance.
While some strikers might hit and hope when presented with a similar opportunity on such a big stage, West Ham United’s Mexican marksman instead weighed up his options in a split second and sent an unstoppable curling shot into the bottom corner of Thibaut Courtois’ net.
The goal, which, alongside Joe Hart’s Man of the Match performance in goal, earned the Hammers a precious Premier League point at Stamford Bridge, came just moments after the No17 had been introduced as a 70th-minute substitute,
“Marko made a good run and then a clever pass behind him, because I think it was like a ‘no-look’ pass and the ball came to me and thankfully I decided I would score and I did!” Chicharito smiled.
“When I saw the ball coming, I know where I am and when I’m looking back to the ball to shoot it, I saw a blue shirt, Cahill I think, moving to my left, so I decided to shoot it at the near post. I also knew Courtois was on the other side, thinking I was going to shoot the long way, but I shot at the near post and thankfully the ball went in.”
“After that, in the final ten or 15 minutes, we created two or three more chances, but unfortunately we didn’t take one. Chelsea also created some good chances, but Joe was the MVP with his unbelievable saves.”
Chicharito is hoping his eighth goal of the season will earn him more game-time over the closing half-dozen matches as he and his teammates strive to keep West Ham in the Premier League.
“I’m looking to play 90 minutes every game. I want to give a headache to the manager so he has to decide, like all the squad. You can see Patrice Evra also came in and did a good job.
“We have some players who are injured who are trying to come back and we have a very good squad and we all want to play more than 20 minutes, that’s for sure. We also know that everybody wants to give everything to help the team.”
We showed consistency in our concentration and Joe put in a great performance, as did the rest of us, and we got a very important point
Chicharito
With that in mind, Chicharito says the whole squad is determined to make it seven points from a possible nine when West Ham take to the pitch again next Monday night against Stoke City.
“We are all happy because, after the good performance the team put in against Southampton at home [in winning 3-0], we wanted to show consistency and I think we did it.
“We showed consistency in our concentration and Joe put in a great performance, as did the rest of us, and we got a very important point.
“With this point, it’s going to be pretty good this week. We can work with confidence after getting three points at home and a good point at Stamford Bridge, knowing how difficult it is to go there, and now we have a very important match, another final, against Stoke. So, we’re going to fight to get another three points at home and that can take us out of the relegation battle completely.”