West Ham United midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate has jumped to the defence of Sam Allardyce.

Allardyce is expected to be dumped as Hammers manager tomorrow.

"He gave me the chance to fulfil my dream in coming here and if it wasn't for him I would probably be playing in Spain at Valencia," said Kouyate.

"Sam did everything for me to come here. He even took time out of his holidays and made sacrifices to call me and to make my dream come true. I'm very thankful to him for that.

"I can't speak for the other players but for me personally, the reason I'm here is because of the manager. We don't know what will happen in the future but we will focus on the upcoming game and we want to give our all to get the win for him."