18 April 2022

Aaron Cresswell says West Ham will keep Champions League fight going

18 April 2022

Aaron Cresswell insists West Ham will keep fighting for a top-four finish until the end of the season.

The Hammers missed the chance to climb to fifth in the Premier League after they were held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Burnley on Sunday.

Nevertheless, these are heady days for West Ham, who are in the Europa League semi-finals and still challenging the big guns domestically.

“The expectation comes from where we are now,” full-back Cresswell told West Ham TV.

“We’re in the Europa League semi-finals, fighting for fourth to sixth spot and we want to be up there fighting to finish as high as we can.

“We’re going to give everything we’ve got, everyone knows that’s what we do. The last two years have been incredible and we’re going to fight until the end.”

The draw with Burnley was marred by a sickening injury to Clarets midfielder Ashley Westwood, who was taken to hospital after his leg buckled under him as he collided with Nikola Vlasic.

Burnley gave an update on the 32-year-old’s condition on Sunday night, tweeting: “Ashley Westwood suffered a serious injury to his ankle.

“He is doing well and with the club doctor and will be assessed by a specialist in the coming days. Everyone at the club wishes him a speedy recovery.”

The Clarets, playing their first match without Sean Dyche in charge for almost 10 years, scored shortly after Westwood was stretchered off through Wout Weghorst.

West Ham equalised when Tomas Soucek bundled the ball home – not before Maxwell Cornet missed a Burnley penalty – and were denied a winner by some superb saves by Nick Pope to keep out efforts from Michail Antonio and Issa Diop.

“For the first 20-25 minutes I thought we were on top and then the unfortunate injury for Westwood kind of killed the game,” added Cresswell.

“We didn’t really get going for the rest of the first half after that, but Pope’s made a few unbelievable saves, we had a couple off the line, a few big chances, but it just wasn’t really our day.”

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