Boss Julen Lopetegui has urged his West Ham United players to build on their impressive run and demonstrate what they’ve got when they welcome title hopefuls Liverpool to London Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Hammers extended an encouraging unbeaten streak to four games when they showed grit and determination to overcome Southampton 1-0 at St Mary’s Stadium on Boxing Day, in the wake of a win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and draws against AFC Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Indeed, they were forced to battle against the early withdrawals of Łukasz Fabiański, Maximilian Kilman and Carlos Soler, while fifth bookings of the season for Tomáš Souček and Guido Rodríguez – that rule them out of the Reds contest – have since depleted squad options.
Despite the challenges, Lopetegui took plenty of heart from the way the individuals called upon got over the line on the south coast, and having earned eight points from a possible 12 in the team’s last four games, he is itching for further progress up the top-flight table.
A return to east London sees the Irons set to take on arguably the division’s best operators, with the Merseysiders currently comfortably clear at the top of the standings, top of the UEFA Champions League ranks with six wins from six, and through to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.
Though the Head Coach is aware of Liverpool’s threats and qualities, he is looking forward to going up against Dutchman Arne Slot in the dugout, and is hopeful his troops can close out 2024 with a bang.
As the countdown to kick-off continues, Lopetegui sat down with the gathered press to reflect on the Southampton win, the quick turnaround, and the next challenge in front of West Ham.
A strong platform to build on
We were really pleased with the win at Southampton, to make it eight points from a possible 12. We handled a very tough match and we handled big problems with injuries and this kind of situation.
So, we have to keep with this mentality and to be ready for the next challenge that is going to be enormous [against Liverpool], and we have to be ready to use all our players.
Impressive team mentality
It’s important we get as ready as we can for the next challenge. We have to try and take advantage of the situation with the players we’re going to need. This is the moment to highlight the word ‘TEAM’ with capital letters, because we have a lot of players out and we’re going to need everyone [that's] available.
This sort of situation happens though, so we have to be ready to face it in the best possible way. I often highlight the importance of our bench players, and the likes of Alphonse [Areola], [Jean-Clair] Todibo and Edson [Álvarez] showed they were ready to come on and perform [against Southampton].
With [Aaron] Cresswell, he has been injured for two weeks, and came on to play in a key part of the match, and it’s the same with Vladi [Coufal] and [Crysencio] Summerville. We need this kind of mentality because all of the players are going to be main actors at different stages of the season.
Outstanding opposition
I think with Liverpool we are talking about the best team in the Premier League by far, at the moment. So we know we need to be aware of their threats and be ready, just like we have to be for every game in this division.
We are not afraid of them, but we do respect them, like all of the teams. They have top players, a very good coach, and they are doing very well at the top of the league right now.
But we have to believe in our own strengths, and look at what is possible for us to do in the match. We are happy to have these kind of matches at home, because we know the difficulties, but we have great belief in our players.
