Moyes was in good spirits during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, and he has every right to be. Over the past ten league matches, West Ham have lost just once and only Manchester City have taken more points than The Hammers.
David Moyes said: “Let’s not kid ourselves we are only new to this [challenging for Europe], we are just the new kids on the block here so we are trying to challenge and hang in. As I said earlier in the season we are trying to hang onto the coattails of those above us and then who knows how it may go.”
The 24-year-old also added that West Ham were going “under the radar” because nobody expected them to be fighting at the top of the league. Moyes might not be ready to admit it in public but West Ham are very much in the hunt for Europe and a win against Jose Mourinho, a manager he has failed to beat in 15 previous encounters, would go a long way to proving it. When that statistic was put to Moyes it was the one time in the afternoon that a glimpse of his steely winners’ mentality came out, a terse comment of “there is always a first time,” preceded a more thought out reply:
David Moyes added: “The truth is there is always a first time and perseverance is the key and we will try and make it happen, so let’s hope it is this time.”
Jarrod Bowen went along with the company line and quoted his boss:
Jarrod Bowen said: “Like the manager said the other day when it gets to single-digit games we will be starting to look more and more towards those European places but right now it’s about winning as many games as we can and keeping the performance levels high.”
