West Ham United U23s lead coach Dmitri Halajko has called on his players to capitalise on the demands of a rigorous 2020/21 season and force themselves into consideration for senior action.
The Hammers’ first-team squad have already completed some 8 fixtures in just 34 days of the new calendar year.
With seven wins in that time, West Ham’s form shows no signs of slowing down, and the Academy of Football have continued to strive to support those efforts through the provision and development of players towards first-team contention.
Indeed, no fewer than seven Academy youngsters have made their first-team debuts in 2020/21 so far.
Harrison Ashby, Ajibola Alese and Emmanuel Longelo’s senior bows arrived in the early rounds of the Carabao Cup at the beginning of the campaign, with those of Mipo Odubeko, Oladapo Afolayan, Nathan Trott and Jamal Baptiste following in the FA Cup in recent weeks.
With that in mind, and coming off the back of a clinical display in their 3-1 win over Southampton in Premier League 2 last week, Halajko has called on his U23s to remember the end goal of development football when they travel to Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday evening.
“The first team have a really congested programme of fixtures this time of year and they’re all watching us,” Halajko told whufc.com.
“That means that there’s plenty of opportunity out there for our young players – but they need to be ready to take them.”
Brighton’s U23s go into the game without a win in their last five league games, and having conceded five times in each of their last two outings.
We’ll look forward to Friday’s game because we know that it’ll be a really good test for us
Dmitri Halajko
The last time the Seagulls and the Hammers met at development squad level was in October, when the two sides traded chances and goals frequently – before a late Jose Izquierdo finish settled the scoreline in Brighton’s favour.
Prior to that, a 3-1 win away at Brighton last season secured West Ham U23s’ progression from the Premier League International Cup group stages, with Nathan Holland, Alfie Lewis and Anthony Scully all on target that day.
Halajko therefore has fond memories of an entertaining fixture behind him as he prepares for the trip to the Amex Elite Performance Centre – and the lead coach wants to see his side make the most of their week’s work since that win over Southampton.
He explained: “I thought it was a really good game when we played Brighton earlier on in the season.
“We’ve played them twice since I’ve been here and they’ve both been really hard-fought games. We’ll look forward to Friday’s game because we know that it’ll be a really good test for us.
“The boys have had a week since their last game, so that’s good. That’s plenty of time to have a little bit of rest before building ourselves up again for a big match.”
West Ham United Under-23s take on Brighton & Hove Albion Under-23s on Friday 5 February in a behind-closed-doors fixture. Kick-off is at 7pm; you can follow all the action with our live blog on whufc.com from 6.30pm.
Please note that Academy fixtures will be played behind closed doors until further notice. Only key personnel will be admitted on site and the match will be played without supporters present, in line with safety guidelines and social distancing measures in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
