Boss Graham Potter has urged his players to translate their positive response to recent disappointment on the training pitches to the match arena, ahead of Sunday’s visit of London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
West Ham United welcome Ange Postecoglou’s troops to London Stadium sat 17th in the Premier League standings, after last weekend’s agonising 3-2 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion that extended their winless run to seven games.
Despite having last earned a three-point haul at home to Leicester City back in late February, the Hammers have remained competitive in each of the following fixtures, and while earning points against the likes of Everton and AFC Bournemouth, and pushing champions Liverpool very close last month.
With four games of the 2024/25 season remaining, Potter is itching for a consistent performance back on home soil that could spark a fast finish, and a climb up the ranks with Wolverhampton Wanderers in 13th only five points ahead.
A final derby of the campaign promises a bustling atmosphere in the east of the capital, and with 16th-place Tottenham having endured a similarly tough domestic campaign, there will be real hope among the home crowd that their team can earn a full share of the spoils and leapfrog their opponents in the table.
The Lilywhites will have taken plenty of confidence from their 3-1 win over Norwegian outfit Bodø/Glimt in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals first leg on Thursday however, and will be itching to generate further momentum ahead of the second leg back on the continent next week.
Ahead of kick-off, Potter sat down with members of the press to discuss a range of topics, including his reaction to last Saturday’s Brighton result, rallying his troops, and what to expect from Spurs.
Bouncing back from Brighton disappointment
I think it’d be surprising if I wasn’t upset after how that game unfolded. So that’s normal. Then it’s just about accepting the human being that we all are and then going, ‘come on, we have to move forward’.
Whenever you come into a job like this, at the sort of time we did, you know there are going to be challenges. It’s the Premier League, and you can see how competitive the league is.
You see where our opponents are, such as Manchester United and Tottenham, who are doing so well in the [UEFA] Europa League, and you see how tough the Premier League is.
So, I never thought it would be easy, but I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s a fantastic challenge and I’m really enjoying it.
You want to do well for yourself, your family, for the Club you’re working for, and for the supporters. I feel the pressure, and this is a great Club with a desire to do better, so I have to accept that and work as hard as I can to help things improve.
Players responding in the right way
They’re human beings as well, so you can imagine that they have been low, disappointed and angry, but at the same time they’ve been really good in terms of how they’ve gone about picking themselves up.
We spoke after the game about being together. It was really important for us to do that, and they have been together in training, so credit to them for that. We’ve got a big squad here and it’s not always easy to have that togetherness, but I think they’ve done it well.
We’re competitive and we want to win. And so how the Brighton game unfolded was tough for everybody, including the players. So, the job has been to try to acknowledge the feelings that you have, with honesty, and then go from that to showing a good response in training and in the next game.
There’s no point in talking too much; it’s about showing a response. We go into Sunday and we have to put on the right performance. We know how big the game is for our supporters, so we have to put on a show.
Aiming to finish with a flurry
It’s about points at the end of the day, and wins, which is what we need.
We’ve done some things right, but not enough. And it’s hard when you’re where we’re at now to talk with too much positivity. If you take the emotion out of the Brighton game, there were some positives to take, but that’s not really what you want to speak about when you’ve had such a disappointing feeling.
When you’re on the sort of run we’re on, you just want and need wins. We want a front-footed performance - one that shows who we are, full of pride - and to come away with the points.
Expecting a tough test
They’ve had a tough season in the Premier League, because of injuries and other reasons. That just shows that in this league, nothing’s forgiven.
This is the most important game for us, because it’s the next game. And then you add on the fact it’s a London derby, and the added importance for our supporters.
I feel for our supporters because they’ve had a tough year. That’s the reality. They’re frustrated, understandably so. And we want to try and give them something back.
Summerville recovering after surgery
It’s been a complicated one with him, and I think we’re looking towards pre-season [for his return].
That’s where we’re working towards. I think it’s stage-by-stage, depending on how he reacts and how he goes, but the target would be the first few weeks in pre-season.
