Alan Pardew says that he and his players will be completely
focused on securing three points against Bolton Wanderers this
weekend.
With the Trotters travelling to Upton Park next Wednesday for our eagerly-awaited FA Cup fifth round replay clash, tomorrow's Premiership encounter has been dubbed by some as a dress rehearsal to the main event, but the Hammers boss insists that certainly isn't the attitude among his squad.
"We will be going all out to win up at Bolton," says Pards. "It's a massive game for both clubs in terms of our league position and what we are trying to achieve, so there is no question of Wednesday's cup tie taking the focus away from it.
"It's only three weeks since we played at the Reebok Stadium, and I certainly expect this to be a very different game. In the cup tie up there, it was important that we didn't get beat, and we were perhaps a bit more conservative than usual because we felt we would have a better opportunity to win the tie at home.
"We are going to approach it differently this time, to see if we can upset them a bit more in terms of offensive play, and we are certainly working on a couple of things that might work better than they did in the cup game
"From free play we haven't done enough to hurt Bolton on the three occasions we have faced them this season, and we need to do better in that sense."
The two clashes against Bolton this week will mean that we have faced Sam Allardyce's team on no fewer than five occasions this season, and Pards admits that the sense of familiarity will play a significant part.
"Because we know each other pretty well, there is a natural reaction to perhaps be slightly on guard," he says.
"All three games this season have been very tight and, although we have been on the receiving end of a defeat twice, we dominated the first game and would have won had we taken our chances.
"We're not in awe of Bolton, we don't fear them, but we do have a healthy respect for them, especially at the Reebok. This is going to be a real test for us, and it will take a special performance to secure the result we want."
With the Trotters travelling to Upton Park next Wednesday for our eagerly-awaited FA Cup fifth round replay clash, tomorrow's Premiership encounter has been dubbed by some as a dress rehearsal to the main event, but the Hammers boss insists that certainly isn't the attitude among his squad.
"We will be going all out to win up at Bolton," says Pards. "It's a massive game for both clubs in terms of our league position and what we are trying to achieve, so there is no question of Wednesday's cup tie taking the focus away from it.
"It's only three weeks since we played at the Reebok Stadium, and I certainly expect this to be a very different game. In the cup tie up there, it was important that we didn't get beat, and we were perhaps a bit more conservative than usual because we felt we would have a better opportunity to win the tie at home.
"We are going to approach it differently this time, to see if we can upset them a bit more in terms of offensive play, and we are certainly working on a couple of things that might work better than they did in the cup game
"From free play we haven't done enough to hurt Bolton on the three occasions we have faced them this season, and we need to do better in that sense."
The two clashes against Bolton this week will mean that we have faced Sam Allardyce's team on no fewer than five occasions this season, and Pards admits that the sense of familiarity will play a significant part.
"Because we know each other pretty well, there is a natural reaction to perhaps be slightly on guard," he says.
"All three games this season have been very tight and, although we have been on the receiving end of a defeat twice, we dominated the first game and would have won had we taken our chances.
"We're not in awe of Bolton, we don't fear them, but we do have a healthy respect for them, especially at the Reebok. This is going to be a real test for us, and it will take a special performance to secure the result we want."