Archie: “I’m grateful for every appearance” | OneFootball

Archie Gray racked up appearance number 42 this season at West Ham on Sunday, describing each one as ‘priceless’.

The versatile young defender/midfielder, who only turned 19 in March, clocked up his 25th appearance in the Premier League in his debut campaign at the club, this time in a right-back role as Ange Postecoglou switched around his back four in what turned out to be a scrappy affair at London Stadium.

That meant another test for Archie up against Hammers’ tricky forward Mohammed Kudus, and he kept things under control in a game of few chances – indeed, both teams only had two efforts on goal as Wilson Odobert opened the scoring with his first Premier League goal on 16 minutes before Jarrod Bowen’s leveller 12 minutes later.

Reflecting on the draw and particularly another appearance, Archie spoke to our Review Show afterwards. “I'm just grateful for the gaffer trusting me in these different positions, it's priceless experience at this level,” he said. “I'm grateful for every appearance that I get, and I just want to work my hardest and show what I can do in every game.

“This was a tough game today, there wasn’t much time on the ball, but it was another good game to be involved in and to get another appearance. If we couldn’t win it was important for us not to lose the game, now we can take that into Thursday (UEL semi-final second leg against Bodo/Glimt).

“It’s been a great season for me, obviously we've had tough times, that’s part of football, but we've got such a golden opportunity in these next few weeks.”