Jaaskelainen targeting back-to-back wins

Jussi Jaaskelainen has highlighted the importance of West Ham United's 3-1 home Barclays Premier League victory over Chelsea.

The Hammers bounced back from successive defeats at Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United and a goal down to the Blues to score a memorable victory over their west London rivals on Saturday.

Jaaskelainen himself played a starring role in West Ham's success, making a succession of saves to deny Juan Mata and Fernando Torres. The former Finland international was delighted with both his own performance, and that of his team. Now, the 37-year-old is targeting victory over Liverpool this Sunday.

"It was massive to stop our losing run," he told West Ham TV. "Some teams lose a couple and then go six or seven games without a win, so ending our run at just two games is great. It would be nice now to get back-to-back wins."

Jaaskelainen hailed the bold decision made by manager Sam Allardyce at half-time to introduce Mohamed Diame and Matt Taylor - moves that changed the course of the game in West Ham's favour.

"We started pretty slow in the first half. We could not really get going and our passing was not good enough but we changed that after half time. We kept it at 1-0, made a few changes during the break and we came out really well, scoring some good goals and limiting them to very few chances to secure a good three points.

"We had three tough games in six days including two away from home against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United. We had to defend a lot and do a lot of running. The gaffer left some of the players like Momo Diame on the bench, but it was a plan that worked very well for us."

Only Manchester City and Chelsea have kept more clean sheets than West Ham, but Jaaskelainen insists personal glory comes second to team performance.

"When you play at this level as a goalkeeper it is all about consistency. You know, over the course of the season, you will make mistakes but the important thing is for the team to keep playing consistently well.

"Like always, it is my job to keep the ball out of the net. You have to look at the positives, then take them into the next game and hopefully perform well."

Jaaskelainen also praised his goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson for helping him to continue improving, despite the fact he has spent more than 15 years playing in the Premier League.

"I was very lucky to have a very good goalkeeping coach for 13 years at Bolton Wanderers [in Fred Barber] and I think it is very important to work hard in training. I am very happy with the work I have been doing with Marge - he is continuing to bring a lot of new things into my game which, as a 37-year-old, is great."

Jaaskelainen may be 37, but he showed the agility of a 21-year-old when he celebrated West Ham's third goal against Chelsea with a leap in the air in front of the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand. Jokes aside, the Finn is a model professional and it is no coincidence that he is still playing at the highest level long after most top-flight players have lost their physical edge.

"I felt like a 21-year-old after we scored the third ! It is amazing how well you can do if you look after yourself 24/7. People have told me 'Stay in the game as long as you can because once you are done, you are done'.

"You have to work very hard on an individual basis during the week but hopefully it will allow me to keep up the same levels of performance."