David Moyes has dismissed suggestions West Ham have 'one eye' on Europe after falling to defeat at Brentford. The Hammers will take a narrow one-goal lead into their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg against AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night, but were beaten by the Bees in their latest domestic fixture on Sunday.
First-half goals from Bryan Mbuemo and Yoane Wissa was enough to ease the hosts to a 2-0 victory, with the visitors failing to impress after making seven changes. Moyes' side are not mathematically out of the relegation fight just yet, although they are sat six points clear of danger with just two matches' remaining.
The West Ham boss was pressed on whether his team had taken their eye off the ball ahead in the Premier League, with Leeds United the visitors to the London Stadium next Sunday. Moyes dismissed the claim however, and pointed to a hectic schedule in April which had led to him deciding to rotate and give squad players the opportunity to stake their claim for a starting spot.
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Moyes told Football.London: "I think we had a game against Manchester United which we won last Sunday. I think we had a game on Thursday, a semi-final, which we won 2-1.
"We’ve had nine games in [April], we didn’t have a midweek in April where we didn’t have a game. I think if you said you expected me or any manager to keep rolling the players out.
"Today was an opportunity, we’ve earned the right because of the result we got at Man United last week. We’ve certainly got ourselves in the semi-finals, so we’ve earned the right from that and the position we’re in.
"I think I expected our players who hadn’t played for a while to come in and show me and say ‘hey, I should be the one who wears the jersey'."
West Ham are currently sweating on the fitness of Michail Antonio ahead of their second-leg showdown in the Netherlands. The Hammers came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory on home turf, and Moyes feels the 'relentless' nature of their season means 'more injuries' could be inevitable.
He added: "I’ve no idea yet how he is going to be for Thursday yet. But partly to answer the question for, I could put them out and then continue to get more injuries, because we’ve just had a relentless season of games which has been really really difficult to cope with."
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