While West Ham’s form has markedly improved after a start which saw them lose their opening four Premier League matches, with just three losses in the last eleven, Aaron Cresswell says there is still plenty of room for improvement.
Four of the Hammers’ seven league defeats have come at London Stadium and the left-back says that is a situation that needs to be turned around if they are to continue rising up the standings.
“We need to focus on turning this place into a fortress by not losing many games here,” he told Saturday’s Official Programme for the visit of Crystal Palace. “We want to win as many games here as we can. At this stage of the season, a lot of games come thick and fast and this is the time when you can really kick on in the league.
“We can always get better but if you look at the start of the season, we had a terrible start and lost the first four games.
“I’ve said it before and we had a lot of changes over the summer, both players and staff, and a lot of new faces came in and I think it takes time to settle. I think you can see now that players are starting to settle and are really performing well and results are starting to pick up.”
We need to focus on turning London Stadium into a fortress by not losing many games here
Aaron Cresswell
West Ham will go for a third consecutive Premier League win when Crystal Palace cross the River Thames on Saturday, having already defeated Newcastle United and Cardiff City this week.
However, two Eagles who will be determined to halt the Hammers’ momentum are players Cresswell knows very well – Chiekhou Kouyate and James Tomkins.
The left-back and midfielder Kouyate debuted for the Irons in the same match back in August 2014, while the No3 became good friends with fellow defender Tomkins prior to the centre-back departing for Selhurst Park in the summer of 2016.
“I’m looking forward to seeing some old faces,” Cresswell confirmed. “They’re two great lads and we had some brilliant times over the years.
“Cheik has only just gone recently and he was a loss, not only on the pitch but in the changing room. It was the same when Tonks left a couple of years back as he’s another great lad and a top defender. It’ll be good to see them both.”
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