Chicharito is hoping to start 2018 on a high with West Ham United.
The Hammers face three important fixtures in the first seven days of the New Year – Premier League meetings with West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur and an Emirates FA Cup third-round tie at Shrewsbury Town.
And, with such a busy schedule in place, the Mexico striker is eager to make his mark in Claret and Blue.
“We have three games this week and they are all very important for the Club, and I hope there will be opportunities for all the players to help the team,” the No17 told whufc.com.
“First, we play West Brom and we are fighting for our lives here, so we want to get the three points as well. Then, after that we have a derby match and it’s a nice one with Tottenham. The last time we went to Wembley, we were very happy with the result in the Carabao Cup, coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2, so we have good memories of playing against Spurs there.
“Then the week ends with the FA Cup, which is a competition I would love to win in my career.”
I hope there will be opportunities for all the players to help the team
Chicharito
After starting West Ham’s opening eleven Premier League matches following his summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen, Chicharito was sidelined with a hamstring injury suffered on international duty in early November.
Since returning to fitness, he has appeared as a substitute in the Hammers’ last four games, and now feels ready to be included from the kick-off again.
“Not only for footballers, but for everybody, the most important thing in life is to be healthy and to enjoy it and to do what you love most, which in my case is football. I am very happy and glad to be back.
“I’m always going to give everything for the team, whenever I am on the pitch. I love football and I want to be as professional as I can, both inside and outside the pitch, if I am given one minute or 90 minutes, and I will try to do my best.
“If you ask all footballers all over the world, they will tell you they don’t want to be on the bench, and that’s a normal thing. They all want to play and I’m trying to prove that I want to be involved with more minutes, with more starts, and then we’ll see what happens [when I’m on the pitch].”
But while he would naturally love to play every single minute of every single game, a true team player like Chicharito knows it will need contributions from every single squad member to help West Ham climb away from trouble in the Premier League.
“I’m never one to talk about a single player, be it myself or other players, as all the goals, all the results and all the points we get are because everybody is giving 100 per cent to help the team in the way we want to do it.
“That’s the only thing on our minds at the moment, to give our best to try to get into a better position.”