Electric atmosphere by Cresswell sends warning

Aaron Cresswell is acutely aware that Lyon – themselves in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals as recently as two seasons ago – will pose the Irons’ biggest threat in this season’s competition so far.

Paris St Germain loanee keeper Alphonse Areola has said the same and he is very aware of the club’s history but Cresswell, is determined  the Hammers pace themselves tonight.

He accepts that it is probably the biggest match of his career and that in an amazing atmosphere it will be all too easy to get carried away and that must not happen.

Commenting ahead of the game on www.whyfc.com he declared: “I think the most important thing is we don’t get carried away with just the home occasion.

“The atmosphere I’m sure will be electric, it will be a fast start, but there are still two legs, so we can’t get carried away after the first leg. Hopefully we get a good result to go away to Lyon.

“[Without away goals] you’re not going to be chasing. It’s over the two legs. It’s the same for us as Sevilla. We were 1-0 down in the away leg [and came back to win 2-1 in the second].

“It’s arguably the biggest game of my career. A lot of our squad haven’t been in a European quarter-final before. 

“You’ve got the likes of Kurt [Zouma] who’s played in the Champions League, but there aren’t many others I don’t think who have gone far in the competition.

“In terms of preparing, nothing changes – it’s another game. We’re not going to get carried away with the whole quarter-final. We’re ready to go and you’ll see that on the night.”

Aaron Cresswell

The Irons form has made them pre-match favourites but Cresswell’s feet are firmly on the ground – even in the knowledge that, should his team advance, they could face either Germany’s Eintracht Frankfurt or La Liga giants Barcelona in a European semi-final.

“The camp is always positive,” he smiled. “We’ve got a great team spirit and we’ve shown that over the last three years. 

“We’ve got a small, tight-knit squad and I think that takes you a long way. We’re looking forward to the games and a potential semi-final against Barcelona is massive.

“We don’t want to be looking at what people from the outside are putting on us, what odds we are at. We’re not favourites. We’ve got to concentrate on our game. 

“We’re in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. It’s not going to be easy at this stage now – teams don’t get here by luck, and we certainly haven’t. 

“We’ve earned the right to be there. As a squad, we haven’t got many players who’ve come this far before. It’s another game and one we’re fully focused on.

“Certainly, we’ve earned the right to be here. Through our performances over the last two years in the Premier League, week-in, week-out, that has got us into this competition. 

“In the competition this year, we’ve been fantastic. We came up against arguably the favourites, Sevilla, who had won it six times out of the last 16 years, and to overcome that, I think we did well. We’re fully focused now on Lyon.”

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon