Related items

• Thilo Kehrer’s excitement rises ahead of the chance to achieve his West Ham goal

  Thilo Kehrer has urged his team to write their names into the West Ham history books by winning the Europa Conference League final.

  The Hammers face mid-table Serie A side Fiorentina in Prague on Wednesday night with the aim of lifting their first major piece of silverware for 43 years.

  The 1980 FA Cup was their most recent major trophy while their solitary success in Europe was clinching the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965.

  
  Kehrer is determined for West Ham to finish the job at the end of a rollercoaster season that produced a 14th-placed finish in the Premier League.

  “Making history is being in the final, we know that. Now our focus and vision is completing the goal,” Germany defender Kehrer said.

  “I said it at the beginning of the season without knowing how the season would go, bringing a title to West Ham is a big goal.

  “We have the squad and quality to do it, so we’re very confident going into this final. We’re focused completely on the final.

  “You can feel the excitement of the fans and everybody around the club. There’s great excitement and for us players it’s great to be in that place. We’re enjoying it and will prepare to the best of our abilities.

  “We feel the support of every one of our fans. We are aware of all the people who are supporting us, they are behind us and cheering us on. We are very glad about that. We are taking that energy with us to Prague.

  “We’re happy for everyone who will be at the stadium but also for everybody around back here, we’ll give our best for them.”

  West Ham’s 10-day gap between the climax to the Premier League season and their European final enabled David Moyes to take the squad to Portugal for a short training camp.

  Apart from fine tuning their preparations for next week’s Eden Arena showdown, the players were given the freedom to play golf and visit a local water park.

  “We had some time together in a different place to usual, which helps to mix things up,” Kehrer said.

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Thilo Kehrer (@thilokehrer)

  
  “We relaxed a little bit but it also gave us some time together to regroup. We will try to use it as an advantage.

  “We’ve bonded well as a group this season. We used the last few days to grow even more and get even more team spirit so that everyone is focused on the goal.”

  Kehrer’s form since his £10million move from PSG last summer has been patchy, but the 26-year-old insists he has learned during his first season at West Ham.

  “I’ve taken some experience from the differences of the Premier League to other leagues – the intensity, the speed, the duels, the competitiveness,” he said.

  “This season I’ve become more complete by feeding off that experience. I can’t wait for what’s coming next.”

• Ange Postecoglou agrees to leave Celtic for Tottenham – reports

  Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou appears to be moving towards a swift resolution of his future amid reports he has verbally agreed to become Tottenham’s new manager.

  Postecoglou admitted on Saturday that his ability to enjoy Celtic’s treble success would soon be disrupted by some decision-making and that seems to have happened even quicker than he anticipated.

  The 57-year-old dodged questions on his future before and after Saturday’s Scottish Cup final win over Inverness having emerged as the overwhelming frontrunner to take over at Spurs.

  Neither club are commenting publicly but reports claim Postecoglou told Celtic principal shareholder Dermot Desmond on Saturday night that he intended to leave for London and he is now said to be closing in on signing a two-year Spurs deal with the option to extend.

  When repeatedly pressed on his future after Celtic’s 3-1 Hampden win over Inverness on Saturday, the Greek-born Australian said: “I anticipate enjoying this moment for the next 24-48 hours, as long as I can, before someone drags me away and takes my attention away from enjoying something that’s been hard-earned.

  “The reality is, there’s probably players in that dressing room who won’t be here next year. That’s the nature of football.

  “But I want them to enjoy it, I am going to enjoy it, and that’s all I am going to focus on until someone grabs me by the collar and tells me that I have to answer certain questions.”

  The former Australia head coach has won five domestic trophies out of a possible six after arriving from Yokohama F Marinos in Japan and was linked with numerous Premier League clubs throughout this season.

  Postecoglou became a hero with the Celtic support, not just for resuming their success after a barren season, but also for implementing an attacking style of play and his connection with the fans.

  But he looks set to swap Glasgow for another rebuild job as Spurs finally look to appoint a permanent successor to Antonio Conte, who departed on March 26.

  Postecoglou is due to go on a family holiday on Tuesday and a deal could be finalised quickly.

  Former Hoops manager Brendan Rodgers has emerged as an unlikely favourite to succeed Postecoglou, four years after leaving the club mid-season to take over at Leicester.

  Assistant manager John Kennedy is also high up the list but reports claim Postecoglou hopes to take the former Celtic defender to Tottenham.

• Mount Pleasant, Cavalier to decide JPL final on June 11, following semi-final victories over Arnett Gardens, H'View

  Mount Pleasant Football Academy and Cavalier Football Club will meet in this season’s Jamaica Premier League (JPL) final, following victories over Arnett Gardens and dethroned champions Harbour View in their respective second-leg semi-final encounters at Sabina Park on Sunday.

  The St Ann-based Mount Pleasant FA, which was formed in 2016 and earned promotion to the nation’s top-flight league in 2018, got by Arnett Gardens 3-1 for a 5-3 aggregate win to secure their spot in the JPL showpiece for the first time, while 2021 champions Cavalier blanked Harbour View 2-0 for a 3-0 aggregate scoreline.

  Trivante Stewart with goals in the 33rd and 40th minutes, that took his tally to 18 this season, and one Shande James (86^th), got the job done for Mount Pleasant, after Deandre Cunningham gave Arnett Gardens a 15th-minute lead.

  Meanwhile, Collin Anderson (12th and 57th) got both goals for Cavalier against Harbour View, to regain top spot as the league’s leading scorer with 19 goals.

  After playing out an entertaining 2-2 stalemate in first-leg action last week, Mount Pleasant and Arnett Gardens wasted little time to pick up from where they left off.

  While the Theodore “Tappa” Whitmore-coached Mount Pleasant dominated proceedings, it was the Paul “Tegat” Davis-conditioned Arnett Gardens that drew first blood, against the run of play. 

  Cunningham picked up a pass from Rushike Kelson and rifled a right-footer past Shaquan Davis in goal for Mount Pleasant.

  Given the nature of the game, it was almost certain that Mount Pleasant would hit back and that they did three minutes past the half-hour mark when Stewart muscled his way past a defender to fire past Eric Edwards.

  And Mount Pleasant broke the deadlock seven minutes later when Stewart with a deft first touch, created space to turn and drive a well-struck effort that gave Edwards no chance at a save. 

  The momentum stuck with Mount Pleasant on the resumption, and they should have extended their lead in the 71st but Devonte Campbell, who had time and space in the 18-yard box to pick a spot, failed to finish off a good team build up.

  Try as they did, Arnett Gardens had no response to the quality displayed by Mount Pleasant on the day, and almost as if throwing salt in their wounds, it was a former “Junglists” James that capped the win with a tidy finish from just inside the arc.

   Winning coach Whitmore lauded the character shown by his team in executing accordingly.

   “We were totally in control of the game; we managed the game very well the opponents scored on us but the team showed character and guts and went on to win it. We played this Arnett Gardens team four times, so we looked at their threats and we nullified that, it is just about going into the final now to deliver a title to our owner,” Whitmore said.

  His counterpart Davis admitted that they were outclassed.

  “They just played a better game than us and they won. We just didn’t come out and play, they were quicker to the ball, their ball movements were better, and they won,” Davis declared.

  Cavalier entered their second leg contest with a 1-0 lead over Harbour View and given the defensive nature of both teams, not many goals were expected on this occasion. 

  With Harbour View pressing to play catch up, Cavalier capitalized and pushed further ahead when Anderson rose above defender to head home Adrian Reid’s weighted cross. 

  With the scoreline unchanged at the break, Harbour View came out more purposeful after the interval and almost pulled on back, but Vino Barclett got down well to his right, to keep out Colorado Murray’s 56^th-minute effort from a distance. 

  But Cavalier responded a minute late with a brisk counterattack that saw Shaneil Thomas playing Anderson through on goal, and the striker sporting the number nine jersey, dismissed his marker, before driving past Romario Palma in goal for Harbour View.

  Harbour View tried to play their game in an attempt to overturn the deficit, but it was not to be as they found Cavaliers defenders in defiant mode.