Legendary former Hammers striker Tony Cottee looks ahead to today's meeting with Stoke City...
It is a big game today as it’s important that we get as many points between now and the end of the season as possible.
I’m sure it won’t be on the players’ minds but the higher you finish the more money comes into the Club and going forward that’s important, but I think from the players’ point of view everyone’s playing for their future.
If I was playing against Stoke today I’d certainly be looking to impress, and try and cement my place in the team for next season.
There’s still a lot to play for – I know we’re approaching the end of the season, but it’s a big game and if we can keep Stoke below us in the table then that’ll be the main objective.
I like Enner, I think he’s a really good finisher. I liked what I saw in the World Cup and I saw him a few times before that as well. I was excited when we signed him and between him and Sakho they’ve done well.
But I think there’s more to come from Enner. He’s had his season of settling in, he’s been flying all around the world with the games and there’s the legacy of the World Cup as well. Hopefully next season he’ll hit the ground running and we can get him and Sakho playing up front as they did at the start of this season.
Obviously we’re waiting for the return of Andy and you need four fit strikers. To think we’ve only had two recently shows you how well we have done to get the results we have.
Looking at Stoke, they’ve changed their style a little bit. They’ve still got the toughness of the Tony Pulis era, but Mark Hughes is an experienced manager now and he’s got them to play a little more football.
I watched them against Chelsea last week. They are a top team who are probably going to win the Premier League and it was difficult for them.
It was a fantastic goal from Charlie Adam – probably about 55 yards further out than most of mine!
They’ve got some top players and if we let them play and don’t close them down they’re good enough to come to West Ham and win.
I want to see us take the game to them. It’s an important match and there are three points there waiting for us.
If we can get the three points it’ll give everyone a boost and we can go into the last half-a-dozen games looking as high as possible.
Tony Cottee