Sam Allardyce believes the international break has come at a good time for his side following their 1-0 win over Sunderland.
Diafra Sakho’s late goal secured a valuable victory for the Hammers in what was a tight affair at the Boleyn Ground.
Due to the international break, Allardyce’s men have twelve days to prepare for their visit to struggling Leicester City, by which time the West Ham manager hopes to have a near to fully fit squad.
“The break comes at a good time because it gives us the opportunity to get Winston Reid and Enner Valencia back fit. Carlton Cole obviously came back for 45 minutes and I thought he did well. We want to push on for the last part of the season and hopefully we win more games than we lose.
“Saturday was a big win especially considering some of the players we had missing. Hopefully we will pick up a fair few points between now and the end of the season.”
Having had a tough run of fixtures since the turn of the year, the Hammers have struggled for points despite a run of good performances against some of the best teams in the Premier League.
Looking ahead to West Ham’s final eight games of the season, Allardyce is targeting a strong end to what has been an impressive campaign.
“We’ve only lost two games to teams below us in the league and that in itself shows the season that we’ve had but also with the games coming up it is a big opportunity to get more points on the board.
“Recently, the performances have been there but the results haven’t been. We’re still in a great position, we’re on 42 points which is what we got last season and we’re heading for our best points total since we’ve been back in the Premier League.”
While all his attentions are focused on the next game away at the Foxes on Saturday 4 April, Allardyce is planning further improvements to the squad during the summer.
“This squad needs to grow and get better but before that we need to finish the season off as well as we can.
“At the end of the season, we’ll look at the squad and see what we’ve been capable of and why we haven’t been able to maintain it. Then we’ll take the appropriate steps to close that gap.
“We want to build the club by bringing in more players that can directly challenge the first team, that is the best way to improve the squad.”