Manager on Monday

West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce said his side are on course for their best ever finish since returning to the top flight. 

Saturday’s 1-0 win over Burnley took the Hammers to 47 points with three games remaining, seven more than last season’s total. 

Reflecting on the win, Allardyce said: “Our performances this season, on the whole, have been the best we’ve ever had.

“The points return in recent games may have been disappointing but mainly, I can’t fault the performances.

"If we can win two or even all three of our last games then we’ll really finish on a high. That for me would be a very good season because that would take us past the 50 point mark. Reaching 50 points in year three is no mean feat at this level of football.

“We’ve got one more points than our best finish which was 46. Now we’re on 47 which is a positive. Tenth was our best finish and now we’re ninth. We’ve scored more goals than we’ve ever scored, even with three more games to go.” 

Another positive from Saturday’s victory, the Irons’ ninth home win of the campaign, was the performance of 18-year-old Reece Burke. 

The Newham-born Academy product again put in an assured display, the Hammers have now kept two clean sheets in both league games he’s played in.     

“Reece Burke has done very well for us. He’s still a very young man and he’ll only get better. The harder he works, the better he’ll get. It’s great for him and his family, they’re all West Ham fans so they’ll be delighted. 

“We’re all hoping he can maintain this level of performance, and even improve because if he does he will have a very successful career here at West Ham.”

Allardyce had further reason to be happy with the clean sheet, after the Hammers had conceded a number of last minute goals.  

“It proved to be very important because that was the only goal we scored. The win was the most important thing because we haven’t scored that many goals despite playing well and the performances warranting three more points than we’ve got. 

“We had 27 attempts on Saturday which shows we’re a bit lacklustre in front of goal. Getting clean sheets has been the key factor in the last two games.”