My family have always been West Ham fans, so growing up, I used to go and watch them, and so I was a West Ham supporter.

I've had a bond with West Ham since growing up as a kid, going to Upton Park, looking up to the players.

I know my body better. I know how to be more professional. I know how to get myself ready for the games, which is the most important thing.

If you look at the top midfielders in the past for England, like Lampard, Gerrard, and Scholes, they were always on the scoresheet.

Yes, I'm the same grumpy Gautam who smiles very less on the field. I go very quiet before going into the match. I guess it works for me, though my team-mates keep telling me it is just a game.

I've devoted my life to football.

A tennis racket lurks in my earliest memories like a sick relative who had come to live with us. When I look at my baby pictures, there it is, resting in my crib in the place of a rattle or chew toy.

It's one thing to be 100 percent and go out and play football feeling great. It's another thing when you're not feeling good. You're sick, or you got a nagging injury, and you gotta go out in the cold and go across the middle where a guy's coming full speed at you trying to kill you.