Emerson Palmieri is targeting a return to winning ways in the Premier League when West Ham United welcome Sheffield United to London Stadium.
The Hammers and the Blades will clash on Saturday afternoon in east London with both sides keen to move on from disappointing defeats last weekend.
For Sheffield United, Sunday’s late kick-off at home against Newcastle United was a particularly difficult game, with the Magpies running out 8-0 winners at Bramall Lane to leave Paul Heckingbottom’s side bottom of the division, with one point from six matches played.
Emerson knows that Saturday’s opponents will be eager to bounce back from their heavy loss last weekend and feels the Blades will have a point to prove against West Ham this weekend.
However, the full-back insists the Irons must only focus on their own performance if they are to claim all three points.
He said: “We are professionals and we know that the players there will want to show they can do much better than they did in the last game. Premier League games are always tough.
“We need to respect our opponents. They had a hard result against Newcastle but, for sure, they will have worked hard this week to come here and play against us. They will want to show their own qualities because they have a lot of good players as well.
“But we need to think about ourselves. We’re playing at home, in front of our home supporters, and we want to do everything we can to win this game.”
For the Hammers, last Sunday saw a 3-1 loss at Anfield against Liverpool, a second-straight defeat in the Premier League after a home defeat by reigning champions Manchester City.
Those results put an end to a four-game unbeaten run at the start of the campaign for David Moyes’ team.
“I think we played well in the first half against Liverpool,” Emerson reflected. “It’s not easy to play well at Anfield but we did well in the first half. In the second half, we didn’t do as well.
“We had a feeling that we could take points at Liverpool but it didn’t happen and we need to look forward at Sheffield United.”
West Ham sit seventh in the top flight on ten points from six games played so far, having secured impressive wins over Brighton & Hove Albion, Chelsea and Luton Town already this campaign.
Emerson is satisfied with the start to the 2023/24 campaign and feels the four new signings that have joined the Club – Edson Álvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus – have settled into the side quickly, helping the Hammers to a bright opening to the season.
“We’ve started this season better than last season,” he added. “Last season, we didn’t start as well in the Premier League but we know our quality. We’ve shown our quality and, this season, we’ve started well. We’ve got four new players too and you can see the quality they bring to the squad.
“Because of them, I think we are stronger now than we were last season. We’ve played six or seven games in the Premier League now and you can see the quality we’re showing in the way we play.”
