West Ham United manager David Moyes believes Sunday’s opponents Bournemouth are all but safe from this season’s Premier League relegation fight.
The Hammers head to the Vitality Stadium hoping to build on their current four-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, heading into their trip to the south coast four points clear of the relegation zone with eight games to go, one more than the rest of the sides in the bottom nine.
Next up, having booked a place in the Europa Conference League semi-finals on Thursday night, they face a Cherries side in improved form, sitting 14th and a place ahead of West Ham in the Premier League standings, six points clear of the relegation zone.
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The most recent of their three wins in their last four matches came against Tottenham Hotspur away from home last Saturday, and Bournemouth’s inspired form has been led by the management of ex-Hammers midfielder Gary O’Neil.
In his first managerial role at senior level, O’Neil has put Bournemouth in a great position to stay in the Premier League at the end of the campaign, having been one of the favourites to go down before a ball was kicked.
Speaking on O’Neil and Bournemouth, Moyes believes his next opponents have done a great job and thinks they have almost done enough to seal a place in next season’s Premier League.
“I think he’s done a brilliant job for Bournemouth, he really has,” said Moyes. “I think most people would have maybe seen Bournemouth as one of the teams who could get relegated. “I’ve got to say, I see the opposite, I see a really good team Bournemouth have got, I think they are just about safe if you ask me and I think he’s done a great job.”
While he thinks Bournemouth will be among the 20 teams in next season’s Premier League, Moyes still believes that West Ham have more work to do themselves to make sure of their own place.
West Ham’s Scottish boss added that while West Ham are still in a fight for survival, Bournemouth’s upcoming fixtures, current form and recent win at Spurs puts them in great stead to stay up.
“We’re in a group which is still fighting to get the points,” added Moyes. “I think the reason that we gave Bournemouth that title is that I think if you look at their run-in, they’ve got a lot of games which I could see them picking up some points in, which at this time of the season, is important.
“We’ve just said to win four out of six and to win at Tottenham last week was, I wouldn’t say it was unexpected, but you would have seen Tottenham as favourites going into the game. You have to give them a lot of credit for how they are doing.”
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