West Ham United manager David Moyes admits he has always felt he has had the backing of his players ahead of the final two months of the Premier League season.
After two back-to-back top seven finishes and a place in the semi-finals of the Europa League, the Hammers have gone from dreaming of the Champions League to desperately trying to avoid the Championship inside a matter of months, sitting 18th in the table and a point shy of the bottom three heading into Sunday’s relegation six-pointer against bottom of the table Southampton.
In recent months, home games against Everton and Nottingham Forest have been billed ahead of kick-off as must win, games which Moyes managed to earn 2-0 and 4-0 wins out of respectively, their only two wins in their last 14 Premier League matches.
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Sunday’s clash with Southampton sees West Ham face one of the nine other sides with them in a nine-team battle for survival, with only four points keeping 12th apart from 20th with less than two months of the season to go.
Having got results against the Toffees and the Tricky Trees in matches dubbed ‘must-win’ ahead of kick-off, West Ham know they need a repeat of that against Ruben Selles’ side.
Asked if he has constantly felt that players’ backing throughout this below-par season, Moyes quickly agreed, adding that if players had not, they would quickly have found themselves out of the team.
“I think the players have always played [for me]. If they didn’t I would change them or do something else,” said Moyes. “They have been really good.
“All the games we have had nearly have gone into the category of must win in some way. This one could be that as well.
“In those games you mention they have stood up and been counted, scored a few goals at home. I am hoping with the two games we have at home this week that we can start with a win and get ready to build from that.”
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