West Ham United manager David Moyes spoke to the media on Friday afternoon ahead of Sunday's trip to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Hammers will look to continue their good form in October against the Red Devils who were managed by Moyes in the 2013/14 season, with West Ham picking up ten points from a possible 15 this month in the Premier League, as well as winning all three of their matches this month in the Europa Conference League.
READ MORE: Every word West Ham's David Moyes said on Jarrod Bowen injury, Nayef Aguerd and Conor Coventry
Any injuries or knocks picked up in the win over Silkeborg? How are Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta?
There’s a bundle there, isn’t there? I think every club is the same with the amount of fixtures we’ve all got, there’s injuries and knocks. Hopefully, we’ve come through last night not too bad. We didn’t have Jarrod, he had an ankle injury. He’s done a little bit of running on the grass today, so we will need to see how he is. Lucas Paqueta is not available, won’t be available until next week.
On Jarrod Bowen, is it case of making a late call on him?
We will need to see if he can do many things, see if he can twist and turn and all of the other parts that come of it.
Are there any areas you will look to target against Manchester United? How will you approach this game?
I think Manchester United are [in good form], they’ve improved and it looks as if they are going in a good direction at the moment, but I think we are as well. We have to look at what we do, going away to Old Trafford for anybody is always a tough case. They’ve got some really excellent players, so we will have to play really well but we’ve got some really good players as well. I think we are starting to find a bit of form as well, we could do with finishing a little bit better with the opportunities than we have done but overall, I am really pleased with what we are doing.
What do you make of Erik ten Hag’s time at Manchester United and the current situation with Cristiano Ronaldo?
It’s not for me to talk about Manchester United, I had my chance a long time ago. But, I’ll always look at any manager who goes into Manchester United and wish them good luck because it’s a fantastic job and it’s a great club. The opportunity is a fantastic experience, the players at Manchester United speak for themselves and the player you mentioned there. I don’t want to have any opinion for it, that is for sure.
Would you rather Cristiano Ronaldo was or was not starting against you?
It’s not a question for me, it’s a question for the Manchester United manager.
How good is it that this is your last big away game before the World Cup?
If we keep our home form up that we’ve shown recently it is. We need to improve our away form but if we can show what we are doing at home and keep winning then it’ll be good. Every good you have to take on it’s home merit, whether you are home or away and you have to try and pick up the points. The games are really close in the Premier League, whether you are winning at home or not, all of the games have been tight. Even away from home, some of the defeats we’ve had have been really close, sometimes there have been other factors involved and us not getting points from it. We know how difficult it is.
You are set to have five or six of your players going to the World Cup. Do you think it will make a difference in freshening up your squad in the new year?
I think having the World Cup in the middle of the season has always got the chance of throwing up strange things. I think we are seeing a lot of teams at the moment probably suffering from too many games [in the past], 60 sometimes 70 games a season at the moment for some clubs is a lot, so I see that being baggage that a lot of clubs are carrying at the moment. I think at the World Cup, the players will have a great experience, they are all looking forward to it, it’ll be fabulous for us. Will it help some clubs having less players away? Possibly, but the lift and the chance to play at a World Cup will give the players great confidence and such a good feeling about it. The answer to your question is I don’t really know and you don’t know and nobody knows because we’ve never had a World Cup at this time of the season before so actually nobody is sure what the outcome will be. Obviously after the World Cup, whether you are a World Cup winner or a semi-finalist or quarter-finalist, you are back on the 26th of December with everybody else getting ready to start the season again.
In the break, will you give players time off or have a mini pre-season and play some friendlies?
I’ll do one of them, yes.
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