Robert Snodgrass wants to gift his family a belated Christmas present in the shape of a West Ham United win at Southampton.
The Scot and his Hammers teammates trained at Rush Green on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day before making their way to the south coast ahead of Thursday’s live Sky-televised Premier League fixture.
While Snodgrass would naturally love to have spent more time at home with his wife and children over the festive season, that packed schedule is one that has always been their normal.
As a player, you want to play games, you want to kick on and you want to push forward
Robert Snodgrass
“It’s one of those situations that footballers are used to over the Christmas period, so for us it doesn’t really feel like Christmas because we’re working on Christmas Day and travelling down to Southampton on Boxing Day,” the winger revealed.
“My wife and my kids are used to it now and we will spend the time we get together smiling, opening presents and playing games like most families, and I’m certainly not the only person who had to go to work on Christmas Day!
“As a player, you want to play games, you want to kick on and you want to push forward. The way we’re playing this season, it’s a building process and we want to keep on creating chances and most weeks we’ll take them and get more points.”
West Ham travel to St Mary’s to face Ralph Hasenhuttl’s resurgent Saints seeking to bounce back after having their four-match winning streak ended by Watford on Saturday.
Despite creating 18 goal attempts, the Hammers were denied by a combination of the woodwork, goalkeeper Ben Foster and his defenders, while the Hornets took their chances at the other end to secure a 2-0 victory at London Stadium.
Snodgrass is hoping for better against Southampton - a team he has faced in three different divisions with Leeds United, Norwich City, Hull City and West Ham and scored against four times in ten career appearances.
“It was disappointing but, like anything, we had to take the positives from the game and the positives were that we created some chances,” the No11, who was himself denied by a Foster wonder-save, reflected. “Sometimes they hit the back of the net and you get a good result.
“It was bitterly disappointing for us, because I think a draw would have been a fair result, but you move on because it wasn’t to be.
“They played the same way as us, expansive, and tried to go on and win the game, so fair play to them because they took their chances. In football, sometimes when you take your chances, you win, and that’s what it came down to on Saturday, so we’ll just get ready for Southampton.”