West Ham United keep fighting to finish says winger

The Hammers return to Europa League action against Backa Topola in Serbia on Thursday (5.45pm), before hosting Crystal Palace in the Premier League derby at London Stadium on Sunday (2pm).

They are the first two games in a run of nine in 29 days to end 2023 and David Moyes’ men will be looking to build on their 2-1 success over the Clarets at Turf Moor, with their second successive Premier League win secured by two late goals.

“Until the last whistle goes, we’ll keep fighting until the end and Saturday you could see an example of that,” Kudus told West Ham TV.

“We keep improving and the points are very important, so we’ll build and focus on the next game.

“It was a good win to come back from the international break, as everybody was away in different places playing different styles with their countries.

“It’s good to get back together and get that winning feeling again.”

Kudus had represented Ghana in two World Cup qualifiers during the international break, travelling over 10,000 miles as they earned a last-gasp 1-0 home win over Madagascar before a 1-0 loss on the Indian Ocean island of Comoros.

Moyes included the 23-year-old in his starting line-up, with Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio absent, but Kudus conceded a penalty at the start of the second half, which Jay Rodriguez converted.

The visitors got back on terms, though, on 86 minutes when Kudus beat three men and crossed into the box, where substitute Divin Mubama forced Dara O’Shea to turn the ball into his own goal.

And Kudus then sent an inviting cross to the far post for Tomas Soucek to volley home the winner, adding: “I knew I had to do anything to bring the team back into the game [after conceding the penalty] and you could see that in the last actions.

“I had to make something happen to I had to use my individual skills and luckily it worked.

“If there was no run there [from Divin], the defender would have easily cleared the ball so it had an effect on that. Strikers have to be there so I hoped he would get the goal, but we take the three points!

“[For the winning goal] when I come inside on second balls, we practice that a lot, and it was a good finish from Tomáš!

“I just keep my focus throughout the whole game. It’s easy to give up in games like this, especially when they have more of the ball and we are defending a lot.

“But we still believed and still kept doing what we do best and luckily we got the win.”