Manuel Lanzini has started all five of West Ham United’s UEFA Europa Conference League wins, and the Argentinian is hoping to make it six out of six when RSC Anderlecht visit London Stadium on Thursday evening.
While Premier League minutes have been at a premium for the Irons’ No10 so far this season, he has been a regular member of David Moyes’ side in Europe, scoring from the penalty spot in the 3-2 Group B victory over Silkeborg and helping the Hammers defeat their fellow Danes, Viborg, Romanian outfit FCSB and Belgian side Anderlecht.
And having been part of the squad which reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals last term, Lanzini would love nothing more than to help the Club he joined back in 2015 go all the way and lift the Conference League trophy in Prague next June.
“Of course, I want to play every game, but I know the competition [for places] is strong and I need to be ready for that moment when I get the opportunity to play,” he told whufc.com. “Now, I play in every game in the Conference League and I think we are playing well.
“It's always hard to play in in European competition, but I think in the moment we are doing very well, and we need to keep going like this.
“This is what we work hard for, to be in European competition and to be as high as possible in the Premier League. I think the Club has done very well to bring in players who can help do this for us and we expect big things.”
Lanzini started nine of West Ham’s 12 Europa League ties last season, too, including both legs of the round of 16 win over Sevilla, the 3-0 victory at Olympique Lyonnais in the quarter-final second leg and both legs of the semi-final defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt.
“I think playing in the semi-final of the Europa League was a really good moment,” he reflected. “I am sad because I thought we deserved more and we were unlucky in the last game because after 15 minutes we had one less player and in football now when you play with ten it’s very hard. For me, to go that far was very good.
“For me, we have a team who can go all the way [in the Conference League]. We must go step by step, but I think we can do it.”
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