Tom Ince insists that the togetherness and fighting spirit of the Huddersfield Town squad is the reason for the Terriers maintaining their Premier League status for a second season.
He also reflected on their final game of the season against Arsenal on Sunday – where the Gunners won their first away points of 2018, give Arsene Wenger a winning send off in his final game in charge.
“We fight for each other”
Town confirmed and sealed their top-flight status in the penultimate game of the season, after a Laurent Depoitre goal helped Town draw 1 -1 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
However, many wrote David Wagner’s men off this season before they had even kicked a ball, with them being clear favourites for relegation.
“From day one a lot of people said that Huddersfield would go straight down with a whimper. I think as a squad and as a club we have fought back and fought each other,” Ince explained.
“Every weekend that’s what we did – we fight for each other, we fight for the club, and the celebrations this week have been great, and so they should be,” the 26-year-old continued.
He then went on to praise all the backroom staff that have contributed to the Terrier’s success this season: “Credit has to go to the staff who didn’t get as long off in the summer.”
“It’s great to go through the play offs but then you have to get ready for a Premier League season which is going to be ten times harder,” admitted the winger.
“It’s important that as a team we stuck together, and I think from day one to now we have done that. I think it shows that if you have togetherness you can achieve things like this.”
Huddersfield produced “excellent” performance against Arsenal
When asked about the 1 – 0 defeat to the Gunners, Ince said: “The performance was excellent against a top, top side. Arsenal have bags of quality.”
“I don’t think we so much battered them, but we were the better team throughout the whole game,” added Ince, who probably had one of Town’s best chances of the game early on.
“We took the game to them, we created chances and got the ball in the final third and put it into the box and caused problems. However, we just couldn’t get that goal,” he said.
The atmosphere was incredible at the John Smith’s Stadium on Sunday afternoon, as the game gave the players and staff the opportunity to thank the fans for their support throughout the season.
“It was more about what happened after the game. We did what we needed to do on Wednesday night at Chelsea. It was a great feeling and a great atmosphere around the club,” Ince concluded.