West Ham have so far dealt excellently with the rigours of European football, with David Moyes leading his team to the top four in the Premier League, the last-16 in Europe and the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
David Moyes said: “Last season a lot of our good form was down to preparation and good time spent on the training ground preparing for the games.”
West Ham have just two days to prepare for the huge challenge of taking on Manchester City and Moyes is aware of the challenges this poses his team.
David Moyes added: “We are going into Manchester City with less preparation which is difficult but even with weeks to prepare for Manchester City it is hard but it is even more difficult with only a day or two. But we have some rhythm and we have consistency in our team. We have got a few ideas of what we can do, we have played against some of the top teams recently so all those things we will bring in to make sure we are ready for the game.”
There was no hint of complaint from the manager with Moyes keen to stress he is enjoying being in Europe but added that last season’s preparation between matches allowed him to create the type of team he wants West Ham to be.
David Moyes said: “We all want European football but while you are building your team you need the weeks [for] training and preparation for games.”
Moyes used Arsenal as an example of a team thriving due to the lack of midweek football, even so, Mikel Arteta’s team are below West Ham in the league which just goes to show the phenomenal job the Hammers are doing this season.
David Moyes said: “Personally, I think you are seeing that with Arsenal [this season] because Arsenal do not have European football and it is giving them time together to train.”
With just two days of preparation time ahead of the City clash West Ham are facing a tough task to take anything from the champions but the manager is up for the challenge.
David Moyes said: “They have so many good players, the level of the players and the football we are seeing at the moment is so so high. But we are challenging them and we got a result against Liverpool the other week and as I said before we want to challenge the top teams and I don’t know if we’re as good or whether we can beat them but I want to see if I can give them a game and try and make it as difficult as I can for them.”
