Head Coach Julen Lopetegui is confident his West Ham United team can roar to a third home win in a row for the first time since October 2022 when they welcome Everton to London Stadium on Saturday.
The Hammers have endured an inconsistent start to 2024/25 so far - with three wins, two draws and five defeats from their ten Premier League outings leaving them 14th in the standings - while they are unable to call on the likes of Niclas Füllkrug, Mohammed Kudus and Edson Álvarez due to injury and suspension.
A disappointing 3-0 reverse at the hands of Nottingham Forest last Saturday - which saw Álvarez pick up his second red card of the season - preceded a strong week of training back at Rush Green however, and Lopetegui is buoyed by the response he’s seen behind the scenes.
Following his arrival in the summer, as well as a number of transfer incomings and outgoings, the Spaniard is confident his players are continually progressing, while he has seen them rise to the occasion on each of their two most recent outings on home soil.
After impressive 4-1 and 2-1 wins over Ipswich Town and Manchester United last month, Lopetegui is now aiming for another win that would represent a positive end to the latest block of fixtures, ahead of the impending November international break.
This weekend’s visitors Everton sit two places and two points below the Irons in the standings, yet they came out on top in this fixture last season and have lost just one of their last six top-flight games.
Sean Dyche’s charges will be similarly eager to sign off for the two-week break in play in the right way, particularly following a 1-0 loss at newly-promoted Southampton last time out, and Lopetegui knows his side need to be on their game from the first whistle.
Speaking to the media little over 48 hours ahead of kick-off, Lopetegui reflected on the Forest defeat, while also commenting on his squad and the quality of the upcoming opposition.
Forest reflections
Always when you lose, there is a lot of frustration. We work to win, and we didn’t do that in our last match. Having to play with fewer players for 45 minutes was a big disadvantage for sure, but in the same way we need to learn and adapt better as a team, and manage those moments.
For sure I know we can do better, but that is the case even when we win matches. I think we can always improve. We have the will and the spirit to keep learning and get better, and we believe that we’ll keep building to put on a good performance in front of our fans against Everton this weekend.
Heading in the right direction
I am confident that we’re going to keep getting better. There is still a long way to go in the season, and I believe we’re going to be able to overcome some of the disappointing moments so far, win many more matches, and do better.
We have the commitment of the players, and even though we have a few players unavailable at the moment, I think that presents a good opportunity to the others to kick on.
Sometimes this is the kind of moment when you get good answers. We have to come together and perform as a group, and hopefully we can do that.
Building on strong home form
We’re not happy with where we are overall, but we have earned good results in our last two matches at home, and we’re focused to take a positive mentality into the Everton game.
We know we’re going to face a very strong team, but we feel we are ready to play a really strong match at home, in front of our own fans. We have to go into it with a balanced view, in order to win.
We can always talk about past games, but I prefer to look forward, and the only focus we have is on Everton. We know they are a good team, with good players and a good coach, and we have to be ready to answer their threats.
Everton pose a tough challenge
In my opinion, I think they keep getting better and better, and I think they’ve improved on last year.
They have a coach who knows the Premier League very well, he has lots of experience and he’s helping them develop all the time.
They have a very balanced and complex team, and we know they’re going to be hard to beat. At the same time, we believe in ourselves as always, and we’ll do what we can to get the right result.
Kudus’ extended suspension
It’s not good, because we thought we’d only be without him for three matches, but we have to accept it’s now a five-game ban.
My focus is on the Everton game, and I’d rather think about what we can control for this match. We know we have challenges, but we have to be ready, and make Saturday count.
