David Moyes knows to expect another tough test when his West Ham United side face Crystal Palace on Sunday.
The Irons are at the beginning of what will be a busy and challenging festive fixture schedule and, having played out in Serbia in the UEFA Europa League group stages on Thursday evening, returned to work at the Rush Green Training Ground on Friday ahead of this weekend's London derby at London Stadium.
On the domestic front, the Hammers are on the hunt for a third consecutive Premier League win, with Tomáš Souček late goals giving West Ham wins against Nottingham Forest and Burnley, as it did versus FK TSC in Europe on Thursday.
Not that Palace will be easy opponents. Under the guidance of highly experienced coach Roy Hodgson, the Eagles are looking to bounce back after defeat against Luton Town last time out, and come into Sunday's match with a good record away at West Ham.
Speaking to the gathered media before training began on Friday, manager Moyes offered his thoughts on this weekend's opposition and their manager, as well as answering questions about his team's form in the third third of the campaign and Tomáš Souček's goalscoring efforts in recent games.
Too early for team news
We’re only just back from Serbia and we’re training on Friday afternoon. We left a few players behind who had bits of viruses and flu-like symptoms, so I’ll get the chance to see them this afternoon and find out.
Jarrod [Bowen] had his injury so he’s one of the ones we’ll see on. I’ll pick up with the medical team on him and see what they feel, and we’ll take a look at him this afternoon too.
A pleasing season so far
I’m pleased so far. I think we’re only one point behind where we were three years ago, when we finished seventh in the Premier League, and I would say we’re in a pretty good position at the moment.
We’re trying to get the Club at a consistently good level and I’ve said before that it can be a bit up and down. You can be up one year and down the next. We had a little bit of that last year but we made sure we made something special happen last year in winning a trophy. This year, we’re a little bit the same. We’ve brought in new players and we’re still getting them integrated, but thankfully we’ve got off to a stronger start in the Premier League.
I’m really pleased with how the lads are performing. I think the players are doing a really good job. We’ve picked up some good wins and, while we want to play a bit better in some of the games, we’re really happy with the results. It gives us something to build on. I think we can play much better, which is a good thing.
Preparing for Palace
Crystal Palace have always been a tough team to play against throughout the years. Roy Hodgson, as a manager, is always really well organised and highly prepared for whoever they’re playing against. It will be a really tough game for us, as are all the games in the Premier League.
I hope Roy Hodgson stays working in the Premier League because that then means I’m not the oldest! Roy is doing a fine job and let’s hope he continues. He has been an incredible ambassador for football. The way he’s gone about the job, he’s a gentleman in what he does. To continue working in football now shows just how much love for the game he has.
Super Souček
I’m really pleased with Tomas’ goalscoring form. More importantly, his goals have been so important too. We needed somebody to step up and Tomas has been doing it right now. He scored a good number of goals in his first season here, and last season was a little bit quieter, but he’s back on it now which is really good for us.
Squad goals
We’re sharing the goals around which I’m pleased about. This time last year, we couldn’t score. We found it difficult and we were also short of centre-backs due to injury. This year, in the main, we’ve had a fully fit squad. A couple of injuries here and there but mainly most of our players have been in a condition to play.
Jarrod has got goals, which he hadn’t done before the World Cup last season, and that’s been really important to us. Tomas Soucek didn’t get the goals he was getting the year before last, and he is doing that now. Michail Antonio started the season well in terms of goals as well. Players like Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paquetá too, they’ve also chipped in with goals.
Also, with James Ward Prowse and his set-pieces, he’s getting goals or giving us more chances to get goals, which is a massive help too.
