Callum Wilson hailed an important victory for West Ham United, as we came from a goal down to beat Burnley 3-2 at London Stadium.
The visitors struck first in east London, with Zian Flemming scoring for the Clarets on 35 minutes.
But Wilson, in the right place at the right time, levelled nine minutes later.
Head Coach Nuno Espírito Santo then used his substitutes brilliantly as Tomáš Souček and Kyle Walker-Peters came off the bench to give us the two-goal cushion, with our No2 scoring his first goal in Claret and Blue, over three years after his last top-flight goal against Leeds United for Southampton in August 2022.
A late strike by Academy of Football graduate Josh Cullen ensured Burnley were in the game up until the final kick of the game, but we held firm to claim another priceless win and made it back-to-back victories in the Premier League for the first time since February.
Wilson, who has gone from strength to strength for the Hammers this season, was rightly pleased with his contribution, which saw him score his 90th goal in the Premier League, and eighth against Burnley in 13 games.
“It's a massive win today. It was important that we got three points,” Wilson said.
“We needed to catch the team that was above us. That was a big task of ours today, and that was not going to get given to us easily.
“We knew we had to work hard, similar to last week, and show good character, which we did when we went behind as well.
“On a personal level, it's fantastic to score. I just want to score as many goals as I can for the Club, and hopefully that gets me closer to any personal targets that you've set yourself.
“I think it's just a case of anticipation, really. You never want to be, as a striker, standing still in the box because if it drops to you and you're not ready for a shot, to react, then you miss an opportunity to score a goal.
“Today, Cry (Crysencio Summerville) ran in the box, and I knew that I was never going to affect his shot at goal, but it was what happened after it.
“If it hits the goalkeeper, if it hits the post, or if it hits a defender like it did, I'm positioned perfectly to get myself on the score sheet.
“Any time you step over the white line, you want to score, but the most important thing has been the team getting the three points. You know you have to be selfless to achieve that as a striker.
“You have to run, you have to fight. In the position that we're in, sometimes boys are going to be under pressure, and they're going to have to play it long with you.
“It's about trying to get your team a platform to build from, get yourself on the pitch. Any time I'm in the team, I'm playing football, I do put my body on the line, hence why I've had a few injuries!
“Going forward, I feel good, I feel fit, strong and just happy that I'm able to contribute.”
Wilson hailed West Ham's collective effort and said we showed how much quality we have throughout the squad. With two goals from substitutes sealing the victory, our No9 revealed that he felt Walker-Peters was destined to score in a win over Burnley.
He added: “It's important that it's not just reliant upon strikers or attacking players to score the goals.
“Everyone's contributing, and that bodes well for the future, especially the position that we're in because we know that we have got the quality in the wide areas and up front and things like that to determine games on their own as well.
“I did say to Kyle he was going to score today beforehand. He probably would have thought, ‘Oh, I’m a dreamer’ because he's on the bench, but I think sometimes I can just sense what's going on in the future.
“The magic's there, but I’m just delighted today with the result, and we'll have a few days off just to rest, recoup and go again.
“It's important that you have confidence going into those kinds of games [after the international break] where you're classed as an underdog, but we've not listened to the outside noise, we've not let that affect us in any way.
“We knew we weren't performing to the levels that we were and that we needed to be at, and we had to turn things around, and the only people that were going to do that was ourselves.
“No matter what people were saying and things like that outside, externally, you have to probably use that as fuel, and we had nothing to lose.
“We're still there (in the relegation zone), but only on goal difference, and we've now got something to build from.
“We can see further up the table, and back-to-back wins in this league are massive.
“As we've seen, it's given us six points, and we have to try and go again against AFC Bournemouth next time out.”
