West Ham United defender James Collins, has hailed Saturday's 1-0 win over Swansea City as "massive" for the Hammers as they got their first victory in seven Premier League matches.

Eased a bit of pressure

Slaven Bilić's headed into the weekend's clash at the London Stadium in desperate need of points. Having not tasted victory since the beginning of February, and finding them not only on a five-game losing streak but just five points above the relegation zone.

Paul Celement's side also found themselves in some deep trouble down the near the bottom of the table, which led to a pretty tight affair throughout the clash in Stratford.

But it was Cheikhou Kouyaté who made the difference with his excellent effort just before the break, and Collins praised the performance of his teammates in what he thought was one of the club's biggest games for some time.

“It’s massive for this football club," Collins admitted to whufc.com post-match. "We knew how big this game was beforehand and hopefully we’ve eased a bit of pressure."

"I’ve played in big games like this before and I wasn’t nervous," he stated to the club's website. "But I did feel anticipation because you don’t know what’s going to happen."

“They were in a bad situation themselves," the defender stressed. "So were probably as nervous as we were."

"So we knew if we got off to a good start and with the players we’ve got," Collins added. "And with a bit of fight and a bit of grit, we could get the three points and that’s what we’ve got.”

Can't take our foot off the gas

The Hammers have given themselves some breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone, with eight points now separating them but Bilić's men can't take their foot off the gas just yet.

Saturday will prove just as crucial with a visit to bottom side Sunderland before hosting Everton the week after, and defender José Fonte insisted that the side need to continue getting wins before they can relax.

“Our aim is to win the next two matches," he stated. "Then we can start to look at things a little differently."

“Not to relax but to be more comfortable," the defender admitted. "And to play in a way that we perhaps haven’t been able to while the pressure is really on."

“You can’t take your foot off the gas in this league,” he added. “It’s a tough league, the best in the world."

"If you are not ‘at it’ every single game," Fonte concluded. "You are not going to win."

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.