First Team

Last Word: Nayef Aguerd on Derby County

30th January 2023

Ahead of West Ham United's Emirates FA Cup fourth-round tie at Derby County on Monday, Nayef Aguerd has the Last Word...

We are playing Derby County on Monday evening and we are all excited to be back in action.

The FA Cup is an important competition here in England. I played in many cup competitions in France with Dijon and Rennes and, while we didn't win a trophy, I have good memories.

I reached the World Cup semi-final and I have reached a final twice with my national team, Morocco, too. We lost one of those finals, but there was also another game, where I was very young, and we won [the African Nations Championship in 2018]. It was great to be with the squad when we lifted that title, hopefully, I can win one with West Ham too.

With cup competitions, you can see what it means to the fans and the players during the game. It is very tough, but the FA Cup is something we want to do well in, of course.

I think the cup games are different to the league, though. There is the pressure of it being a knockout. With the league, you need to wait until the end of the season for the final result. With the cup, it’s all or nothing. Everything is on the line to get to the next stage.

We go to Derby confident after our win against Everton. I saw smiles in the dressing room last weekend; the victory lifted our confidence a lot.

When I see players and the quality we have in our squad, I'm very confident and very ambitious. But it's very tough, and we need to win first on Monday. I'm the sort of person who is day by day, game by game. And I think we need to do that if we should be successful in the cup this year.

As always, we will need the fans on Monday night too. We need them because they will help us, as they do when we play away from London Stadium. We want to feel like we are playing at home almost. With their support, we want to reach the next round.