West Ham United face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday, and are in bad need of a win to arrest a decline that has seen them suffer back-to-back losses.
The Hammers narrowly lost 1-0 to both Brighton and Tottenham in their last two games, and manager Manuel Pellegrini believes the failure to score goals was the only factor that made the difference against the two.
The Chilean is of the opinion that West Ham must improve in the final third going forward, and has told his charges how to play during Thursday’s press conference.
“When we said all the game are difficult, it’s not a cliche. All the games are difficult. I think in our first ten games we played the top eight of the table,” Pellegrini said, as reported by the club’s official website. “We now are playing some teams around us. I don’t think we should think they are stronger, or weaker, or similar. “We must continue to play like we did against Tottenham, but score goals.”
The Hammers have managed to find the back of the net eight times in the league this season, all coming in just four outings.
They also drew blank in the losses to Liverpool and Wolves, and in the draw against Chelsea.
The West Ham squad has been ravaged with injuries thus far, with even the club’s current highest goalscorer Marko Arnautovic still playing through the pain barrier at the moment, as revealed by the Daily Mail.
With Manchester City the only top side the London Stadium outfit face in their remaining 11 league fixtures of the year, they have a huge chance to get the much-needed points before the second half of the campaign kicks in.
Should the players follow Pellegrini’s advice and play like they did against Spurs for the remainder of the campaign, finishing comfortably in the top half of the table is very possible for West Ham.
