Vic Stays Strong

Exclusive interview with midfield powerhouse Victor Wanyama, who is targeting a quartet of victories to round off our Premier League campaign

- Jon Rayner

Victor Wanyama insists we must not dwell on the disappointment of our FA Cup semi-final defeat last weekend as we look to finish the final few weeks of the season with a flourish.

There was a great deal of despondency in our dressing room at Wembley Stadium and throughout our fans in the stands as well following the 2-1 reverse to Manchester United in the last four of the competition 10 days ago, as our hopes of finishing the season with a trophy fell by the wayside.

Everything looked rosy when Dele Alli fired us ahead in the 10th minute, only for United to hit back through Alexis Sanchez and Ander Herrera to take their place in the showpiece final next month. Victor started the game on the bench, coming on for Mousa Dembele in the 78th minute but the midfield powerhouse was unable to make his mark on the game as we searched for that elusive equaliser.

The defeat gave us an unwanted record of having lost our last eight FA Cup semi-final ties but football is a fast-moving sport and after every setback, an opportunity quickly comes around to bounce back.

For us, that is tonight’s match against Watford, a chance to lift the mood and take another major step towards achieving a top-four finish and securing Champions League football in our new stadium next season.

And, as Victor explained, we have no alternative now but to look to the future.

“It has been tough after the semi-final, but now we need to go forward, we need to move on and I think the players have responded very well in training since that game,” said the 26-year-old Kenyan international.

“We were very down but now we need to push on because there is nothing else we can do – we cannot change the result. We just want to train hard now and go again.