Hammers boss David Moyes has made a surprise claim about West Ham having an advantage over Watford which flies in the face of convention.
West Ham face the Hornets as the Premier League resumes at the London Stadium.
The game is massive for both teams for very different reasons.
West Ham are looking to return to winning ways and stay in the mix for the European places while Watford need every single point they can get in a bid to avoid relegation.
Moyes’s side go into the game off the back of consecutive Premier League defeats and having only just scraped past National League North side Kidderminster in the FA Cup.
They needed every second of extra-time to do that as Jarrod Bowen netted the winner with what was almost the last kick of the game.
By standard football convention many would say the extra minutes in West Ham’s legs following that game – on a pudding of a pitch – would put them at a disadvantage against Watford, who played out a turgid draw with Burnley on Saturday night.
But West Ham’s manager disagrees.
Instead Moyes has made a surprise claim which flies in the face of convention by insisting the fact West Ham went to extra-time will give his side an advantage.
David Moyes makes surprise claim about West Ham advantage over Watford which flies in the face of convention
“I’m actually a bit the opposite,” Moyes said when it was put to him that 120 minutes of football at Kiddy could hamper his team against Watford (Evening Standard).
“I quite like the boys playing extra-time because it makes 90 minutes a lot easier once you’ve played 120, so I look at it completely differently to other people.
“I’m quite happy, maybe get them back into better shape.
“They had a week off and maybe they needed it, so hopefully it gets them in better condition. The biggest thing now is the players to make sure they get back to the levels they can show.”
Let’s hope Moyes is right. We’ll soon find out.
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