David Moyes is looking forward to West Ham United’s trip to Merseyside to face his old club Everton on Saturday.
The Hammers are looking to build on Monday night’s thrilling 4-2 victory at home to Brentford, that brought an end to a six-game winless run, and strengthen their push for European qualification.
Everton are without a win in the league since mid-December, though Sean Dyche’s charges have tasted defeat just once in their last six outings and are sure to promise a tough test on home soil.
Manager Moyes - who was in charge at Goodison Park between 2002 and 2013 - faced the media for his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, when he answered questions about his reflections on the Brentford result, injury news, facing familiar opposition and more…
Reflections on Brentford triumph
It was a huge win for us. It got us three points which keeps us hanging in there with the top teams.
We had a great start to the game and I was really pleased with how we went about the game. We got the reaction we hoped we would get, so credit to the players.
There’s always room for improvement, though. There were bits we were disappointed with, but overall we were happy with the performance, and ultimately with the result. We have to keep that going now.
Paquetá’s return
Lucas played really well against Brentford. I was a little bit concerned about him just coming back from injury, and how he was going to be, but we were really pleased with him.
We’re going into a really busy period now with Europe next week as well, so we need all our players on good form. The result against Brentford - and Lucas’ return - gave us a great boost.
Mohammed Kudus is probably just about getting to grips with everything again now after the Africa Cup of Nations, and with Jarrod [Bowen] firing as well, I think we’re in a good place up at the top end of the field.
Hat-trick hero Bowen
I think Jarrod was on a different level to where he’s been, with the goals he scored on Monday. His goals and his all-round performance were terrific.
I sense that Jarrod is so keen to score goals. I can look in his eyes and I think he’s thinking about goals. He can play wide right and in lots of positions in attack, but I feel he’s hungry to score more and more.
He was probably disappointed he didn’t score in the few games before Brentford, but we weren’t making as many chances. Jarrod took to that emphatically on Monday, got himself in the right positions and did really well.
I’ve not set him a target, but in my head I think if he can get to 20 goals it will be a great record for a centre forward at West Ham. Maybe I have set a target for him now!
Team news
Aaron Cresswell felt his calf and his Achilles a little bit before the Brentford game, so we didn’t take the risk with him. He’s OK now.
Maxwel [Cornet] pulled his hamstring a bit in training before the same game, on the Saturday or the Sunday. It looks as though he’s going to be out for a few weeks now.
At the moment they’re the only two who are really in that injury category.
Returning to Everton
I have huge feelings for Everton - it’s the football club that gave me brilliant opportunities. They gave me a start, and a chance to make mistakes. We grew the club, and hopefully people look back and say it was a good time.
The biggest thing I took from my time at Everton was the players. We had brilliant players - if you look at our recruitment and what those players went on to do, it’s phenomenal. They were brilliant lads to work with, and I keep in touch with them all.
It’s always nice to go back to Goodison. The supporters are close to the pitch, there’s brilliant backing there, and there’s always a great atmosphere.
Threats posed by the Toffees
There’s stuff going on off the pitch that’s affecting them, but I couldn’t tell you much about it because it’s not something I’ve experienced.
I think Sean Dyche is probably the right man to be managing Everton at the moment. I think there’ll be very few people who think he hasn’t done brilliantly. His teams are really competitive and they get results against some of the big sides.
What you’ve got to do is work with what you’ve got and make the best of the situation, and I think Sean is doing that. I think that’s probably one of the biggest compliments you can give a manager.
Being nominated for Manager of the Year at the London Football Awards
It’s an award I’ve won a couple of times, and I’m proud of that because of the quality of the teams and the managers working in the London area. It’s nice to get another nomination.
I’ve won the LMA Manager of the Year award three times, which is one of the proudest achievements of my career. It’s the people within the game voting for it, so it’s very special.
