“I’m playing with a smile on my face, I’m going out there, I’m leading the team. I think you could see a difference if I wasn’t going out there and giving 100% but every time I’m putting on the shirt – I’ve got the armband on at the moment – my only objective is to go out there and give everything for the club and get three points.

“With tomorrow night on the horizon, the only thought on my mind is to go out there and put on a performance for the fans and get the win.”

He was even pushed harder on whether he was entirely happy at the club and declared: “Yes, I would 100% say so because I’ve played in teams here that have fought relegation and been mid-table.

“But in the last two seasons, what the manager has built for us, and what we’ve bought into as players, has been amazing. It’s a place where you wake up in the morning and you look forward to going in and having breakfast with the lads.

“I think we can achieve good things,” he continued. “Last season you saw that we finished two points off the Champions League and easily could have got into that. There are games we look back on that we really should have won.

“Like the other night against Manchester United, before I have played in cup competitions where we have been knocked out early but I feel like the mentality around the place is that every competition we’re entering is one we can go on and win for sure.

“And to the fans, you can see how happy I am on the pitch and there is nothing too much to say other than that. I love playing for this team, I love playing under the manager and every time I go out onto the pitch I will always give everything for them.”

“It is a game we are really looking forward to, the players worked really hard to get into Europe and we only missed out on the Champions League by two points last year so we feel as if we want to do well in the Europa League if possible.”

He believes that he can develop to an even higher level from his experience in Europe this season saying. ” I had that experience in the summer of playing international European football and I learned so much from that. To play my first game in Europe for West Ham was really special as well.