Mark Noble says West Ham United’s home form will be vital to maintaining their impressive Premier League form until the end of the season.
The Hammers play nine of their remaining 15 top-flight matches at London Stadium, starting with Saturday’s visit of AFC Bournemouth to east London.
And skipper Noble says the hosts need to ram home their advantage when they tackle the Cherries.
“We are in a good place at the moment, psychologically and performance-wise, but we can’t take our foot off the pedal because we have four games coming up which are winnable,” said the No16.
“We know Bournemouth are a fantastic team, but I hope we can continue the form that we’re in. If we can repeat the way we played at Huddersfield last weekend, we’ll have a good chance to do that.
“We have got nine home games left out of 15 and if we can win five or six of them, it will set us up really well. If we can add a few away wins, that would be perfect.”
We have got nine home games left out of 15 and if we can win five or six of them, it will set us up really well
Mark Noble
Noble, who has been in fine form in recent weeks, scoring in victories at Stoke City and Huddersfield Town to take his tally in Claret and Blue to 49, says the circumstances of the Hammers’ 3-3 Boxing Day draw at Bournemouth would serve as extra motivation in the return fixture.
West Ham came from behind to lead 3-2 late on, only for Callum Wilson to snatch an equaliser, despite being offside and converting with his arm.
“Bournemouth denied us a win late on down at their place on Boxing Day, but it’s a tough place to go and play, with a great atmosphere and the high tempo they play at, as Arsenal found last weekend.
“I’m hoping we can try and do the same to them at our place.”
If West Ham can replicate their second-half performance at Huddersfield last weekend, Eddie Howe’s team could be in for a torrid afternoon.
Noble and company scored three times and could have netted at least two or three more in an irresistible period that had the skipper smiling in appreciation nearly a week later.
“I’ve said before that you don’t really get the chance to enjoy most matches as much as you should do, because you’re too worried about results, but that 20 minutes after half-time was so enjoyable to play in.
“I managed to get my name on the scoresheet early and then, after half-time, the lads were absolutely brilliant.”