Grady Diangana is hoping his outstanding cameo in the 3-1 win over Cardiff City will earn him more minutes when Crystal Palace visit London Stadium on Saturday.
The winger replaced Robert Snodgrass with just 14 minutes remaining on Tuesday evening, but still found time to test Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge on two occasions and lay on chances for Angelo Ogbonna and fellow substitute Andy Carroll.
The 20-year-old’s exciting performance thrilled the Claret and Blue Army and no doubt caught the eye of manager Manuel Pellegrini ahead of the London derby with Roy Hodgson’s Eagles this weekend.
“Every time I come on the pitch I try and do my best, do my job and try and help the team to score or create a goal,” Diangana told whufc.com. “I tried my best, I tried to make it difficult for [Etheridge] but he did a good job so I'll look onto the next game and try and score then.”
We focus on what is ahead of us all the time so now we’ve finished that game we’re focusing on Crystal Palace already
Grady Diangana
Having lost their opening four Premier League matches, West Ham have now tasted defeat just once in their last six to rise to mid-table.
Having broken into the first-team squad just before that recent run began, Diangana insists he found a group of players who always believed things would get better.
“The team spirit has always been good,” he revealed. “We focus on what is ahead of us all the time so now we’ve finished that game we’re focusing on Crystal Palace already so we’re ready for them on Saturday.
“It’s a team effort, everyone’s doing their part as the manager says every day we need the whole squad to play a part and it’s going well.
“Tuesday against Cardiff was the standard of play we want to play and it’s really good for us to develop and for the fans to see what philosophy we have and how we’re trying to bring it on to the pitch.”
Having won back-to-back top-flight matches for the first time in 22 months, the Irons will go for three in a row when they face a Palace team beaten 3-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion on Tuesday and with just one win in their last ten Premier League matches.
However, while the Eagles may not be flying at present, Diangana says the Irons cannot afford to let their standards slip at London Stadium.
“Every game in the Premier League is a tough one so we don’t want to get complacent,” said the No45. “We can’t think it’s an easy game we have to have the same mentality for every game and hopefully we’ll get the win.
“I think they’ve got a good all-round squad but if we’re at our best we should be able to beat them.”