West Ham United right-back Vladimir Coufal felt the Hammers’ fans were unreal during the 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.
David Moyes’ side had found themselves 2-0 down inside the opening ten minutes at the London Stadium after earlier goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard, but both were later cancelled out by Said Benrahma (penalty) and Jarrod Bowen either side of half-time.
That point was the first time since October 2020 where West Ham had come from a 2-0 deficit to earn a point in the Premier League, a point that has moved the Irons four points clear of the Premier League’s relegation zone with just seven full rounds of league fixtures to go, although West Ham have a game in hand on the rest of the sides in the relegation battle.
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For West Ham, it was their first home game since losing 5-1 to Newcastle United earlier this month, despite pulling a goal back in the first half to make it 2-1, the same scoreline that West Ham’s London derby with Arsenal was at the halfway stage.
Coufal admitted he was afraid of a repeat of the Newcastle hammering given West Ham’s disastrous start, but was delighted with the reaction shown by his teammates to earn a point against Premier League leaders Arsenal.
“Yes I don’t like to rate myself but it was an unbelievable team performance,” said Coufal “We were 2-0 down against one of the best teams in the world and its finished 2-2 so I am very grateful for every person from our team.
“To be honest, I was afraid of this. It was like the momentum from Newcastle. But we were 2-0 down with nothing to lose and there was one situation where we pressed them and suddenly the crowd pushed us. We turned the game, we scored and we were pushing, pushing, pushing. Suddenly, we were 2-2 and it was perfect.
“From this situation we found it is possible to play against them, it is possible to press them, it’s possible to hurt them. We did it and we have to play like this from the beginning.“
A big turning point came early in the second half when Arsenal had the chance to make it 3-1 from the penalty spot after a Michail Antonio handball.
However, Arsenal ace Bukayo Saka turned wide from 12 yards in his first ever missed penalty for the Gunners.
Coufal saw that as a big moment, with West Ham moving a point further clear of the drop zone, adding they have to keep that momentum between now and the season ending on Sunday, May 28 away at Leicester City.
“Yeah, of course but he’s mentally strong enough to take another penalty in the next game. He’s scored many penalties before so for him it’s not a problem,” Coufal added on Saka.
“For us, it was a big advantage because the crowd was unreal after missing the penalty and for us it was like another life in the game. To be honest, if he scored it would probably be finished.
“For us, it’s very important that we’re not in the relegation zone. We go step-by-step, game-by-game. It’s important we are four points clear but we have to keep going like this until the end of the season.”
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