Under-fire West Ham boss Slaven Bilic insists his side retain the belief in themselves required to meet the challenge of beating Swansea City tomorrow and going some way to staving of any lingering threat of relegation from the Premier League.
Frustrated fans and critics have called into question the matter of Bilic’s tenure and asked if he can stay at the helm if the Hammers, currently 15th in the top flight, lose to the Swans at the London Stadium.
West Ham have taken just two points from a possible 21 points. Paul Clement’s outfit currently occupy the last remaining relegation position and they are five points adrift of the Hammers.
Ahead of the crucial encounter for both sides, Bilic reflected on the last time to two teams met, a game which his charges won convincingly with a 4-1 result at the Liberty Stadium over the Christmas period.
Bilic said: “It will be extremely difficult. I rate Swansea and I rate Clement. But they are below us and our aim is to win. The win against them on Boxing Day we will mention to the players, but that was ages ago. 4-1, it was a really good game. We had belief then and we haven’t lost that.”
West Ham go into the game on the back of a demoralising 3-0 defeat at Arsenal, while the visitors suffered a 3-1 loss at home to Tottenham with last-gasp goals proving crucial for the north Londoners.
But Bilic is adamant that he has players with enough character to bounce back. He says they have experienced as leaders, adding “if we stick together, we can approach the game with a lot of confidence. As a team, we can walk around and say we have got confidence, but of course individually it can’t be great after five defeats. What we have got is belief. And if you have belief you can get your confidence back. Belief is different to confidence.”
The severity of the situation in which the Hammers find themselves ins’t lost on defender James Collins. He knows a win would give the hosts an eight-point advantage over the Swans. That said, conversely, a home side defeat would hand the Welshmen a huge boost in confidence in the run-in; and could damage Bilic’s men’s own belief.
Collins said: “Swansea is a massive game. The biggest we’ve had for a few years, I’d say. If we don’t get the three points we’re sucked right into it, so it’s vital.”
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