Freddie Potts believes the presence and support of the West Ham United fans can help the U23s earn three points against Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday.
The developmental side will play at the home of West Ham United in Stratford in Premier League 2 action on Friday evening, and Season Ticket Holders and Claret Members can claim a free ticket to attend the match!
Tickets are also on sale at £5 for Adults and just £3 for U16s and O65s!
Mark Robson’s U23s have not had the opportunity to wear the Claret and Blue in front of the fantastic West Ham support on many occasions this season, with COVID restricting access to Rush Green Stadium, and Potts is excited for the chance to do so again at London Stadium.
“It’s very exciting every time we play at London Stadium,” the midfielder told whufc.com. “We played there at the start of the year, against Arsenal, which was a very good experience and we came out with a big win. Hopefully we can hit that sort of form again against Brighton.
“It’s always important to play in front of fans. It’s a big experience for us in the U23s and, for some of us, it’s new challenge too. Some of us in the U23s don’t have too much experience of playing with fans present because of COVID and everything that’s happened in the last couple of years.
“Having our fans there, cheering us on, will add to our confidence and will hopefully help us to three points.”
Potts played the full 90 minutes against Chelsea last Friday in a 1-1 draw away to the Blues, having not long come back from an injury lay-off.
Sonny Perkins had given the Hammers the lead in that game, only for Chelsea to equalise shortly after, and the 18-year-old feels the U23s need to improve their game management ahead of Friday.
He continued: “We need to do more to manage the game. We went a goal up against Chelsea and we found ourselves conceding 15 minutes later, so managing the game will be really important for us against a tough team like Brighton.
“They’ll be a similar side to Chelsea. They’re a good team and they are physical too. It should be a good game, but we’re confident heading into it. We need to keep our heads in the game, whether that’s when we take the lead or if we need to chase it.”
The developmental side find themselves ten points behind Manchester City in the race of the Premier League 2 Division 1 title, but have a couple of games in hand on the leaders.
Potts says the team are aiming to keep the pressure on the Citizens and be in the mix for the title, should the pacesetters slip up.
“The main target for us now is to make it as hard as possible for Manchester City,” Potts added. “We want to win every game between now and the end of the season and get as many points on the board. We need three points against Brighton to do that.
“We want to be at the top of the league and we want to keep touch with City. We just need to take it game by game.”
Secure your seats for Friday's U23s game at London Stadium here!
