Tue 22 March 2022, 12:45
Tottenham HotspurHugo Lloris believes our result and performance against West Ham further underlined the progress we’re making under Antonio Conte.
It was a must-win game and the team delivered in style, controlling most of the match for a deserved 3-1 win against a Hammers side level on points in the Premier League at start of play. An own goal and double from Heung-Min Son saw us home at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Hugo claiming the ‘pre-assist’ for the decisive third goal, his clearance flicked on by Harry Kane for Sonny to finish.
That made it four wins in five, five in seven in the Premier League and lifted us up to fifth, three points behind Arsenal, who have a game in hand, with nine games to play.
“The result is the most important thing in football, and I believe we are building something under Antonio Conte and his staff, there is one way and direction we want to follow, after four months together now we start to know each other well, and we can see the improvements,” reflected Hugo.
“Most importantly... there was a lot of focus on this game, it was really important for us to get the three points and back in the race for European places, and we responded well. That shows a bit of the maturity we have. We need to push again. There are nine games to go, 27 points on the table and I think after the international break, full of energy, we need to push again.”
As for the game, Hugo felt we could have been out of sight by the break, but later coped well when West Ham threw the aerial threat of Tomas Soucek into attack.
“We were a bit unlucky at half-time to be 2-1 up,” added the skipper. “We probably deserved 2-0 or 3-0 regarding the performance, but in football, it’s all about 90, 95 minutes, especially in the Premier League, you never can drop your focus or energy.
“I think we managed the second half very well and the third goal was more than welcome because they were starting to cross the ball in with Tomas Soucek to defend, but we defended very well.
“Without the ball, it’s a great task, because when West Ham players arrive in the box, they are very difficult to defend. The corner (we conceded from a corner in the first half), it’s a little bit… things we can improve, but the performance was top, and we have to use this positive energy to grow in terms of confidence and to be ready for the final race.”
