West Ham’s Champions League hopes were dealt a blow on Sunday afternoon following a 1-0 defeat to Everton at the London Stadium. The Hammers did not look like a side with top four ambitions, with Jordan Pickford in the Everton goal left without a shot on target to save. Despite this West Ham manager David Moyes thought his side did enough to earn at least a point from the game.
David Moyes said “I don’t think we deserved to lose today so we have to try and pick it up and get the next win under our belts as quickly as we can.”
Jesse Lingard agreed with his manager that the Hammers were on top and did not get what he thought was a fair reward for their efforts.
Jesse Lingard said “It was frustrating as we dominated the game and it was a sloppy goal to concede.”
West Ham have just three matches remaining this season and there is no time to dwell on defeat and a number of Hammers players have posted on social media about their determination to bounce back quickly. Moyes has previously talked down the new UEFA Europa Conference League and hopes that this season finishes with a minimum of Europa League football lined up for the next campaign.
David Moyes said “If I fall short of that [Champions League qualification] then we will fall into the Europa League and that will be great as well, I hope we don’t fall any shorter than that but if we do then we can still talk about having had a good season.”
Following the defeat Moyes once again stressed what a fantastic accomplishment any European football would be for a team who were in a relegation battle just 12 months ago.
David Moyes said “If we qualify for Europe it will be an incredible achievement no matter what tournament we are in because it has been a great season and we are hoping we can keep it going.”
Next up for the Hammers is a trip to face Brighton at the Amex Stadium, before a clash with already-relegated West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns and the visit of Southampton on the final day of the campaign.
