While Andre Ayew refused to use the term ‘six-pointer’ when asked about next Tuesday’s Premier League meeting with West Bromwich Albion, the forward appreciates the importance of beating the struggling Baggies.
West Brom go into their New Year’s Eve fixture at home to Arsenal 19th in the table, three points and two places behind West Ham United, who have a free weekend after their own trip to Tottenham Hotspur was moved to 4 January on police advice.
Ayew, who has three top-flight goals and two assists to his name this term, knows victory over Alan Pardew’s side would not only keep the Hammers above West Brom in the standings, but also potentially see them move up the standings and away from the bottom three.
“In the Premier League, every game is different, so we will see what happens,” said the Ghanaian. “It’s hard to predict what is going to happen in the game, but what I can say is that we will do everything we can to get the three points in front of our fans.
“West Brom is going to be a tough one, but we’ve got the players and staff for it and the fans behind us, so we need to try and get three points at home and it will be very important for us to start the New Year on a good note.
“Every game is crucial when you are in our position. We’re not the only ones in this position, either, as there are a lot of teams in that position, so we need to try and get out of there and make some room and to do that we need to breathe, play our game, get points and win games.
“We all know their quality on set pieces, it’s been there for years. They also have good players in their squad like Krychowiak and Chadli, so we need to do our job and, if everyone sticks to their job, everything will hopefully be OK.”
We know we can still progress in the way we play and the way we pass the ball around, so we’re going to work on that
Andre Ayew
Ayew believes West Ham have shown improvement under new manager David Moyes, but insists there is still room to perform much better, particularly when in possession of the ball.
“We’ve been a bit up and down and inconsistent, but we have shown that we’re hard to beat [in recent weeks]. We’ve shown a lot of character and determination offensively and defensively and we need to keep working hard.
“We know we can still progress in the way we play and the way we pass the ball around, so we’re going to work on that until the end of the season. We’ve worked hard technically, tactically and physically and our results have improved. We need to stick to that.
“When you’re in a situation like this, when there is a change of manager, everyone is in a new situation. The gaffer has put his words in and those words touched a lot of players, so we need to follow what he wants us to do and how he wants us to do it, as we can see it is paying off. We need to believe in him, and get him to believe in us.
“We have played a lot of games in the last few weeks, so we need to rest well, recover well, train hard and go again at home. That’s football, because the next game is always the most important one. We’re going to prepare for that.”