David Moyes believes a top-six finish will prove beyond West Ham this season, but warned his fringe players they must step up if they are to maintain their push during the festive period.
The Hammers moved within three points of fifth-placed Tottenham with their comeback victory over Ange Postecoglou’s side on Thursday night and could make up further ground when they travel to Fulham on Sunday, given Spurs meet seventh-placed Newcastle later the same day.
After last season’s battle with relegation, this term’s form brings a welcome return to challenging in the top-half of the table for the Irons, who finished inside the European places in the two seasons prior.
Exactly how many teams will qualify for Europe via the Premier League at the end of this term is for now unclear, with the domestic cup competitions yet to unfold and the extra places potentially on offer as part of Uefa’s Champions League expansion clouding the picture.
However, with competition so fierce among the Premier League’s elite this term, Moyes is unsure whether his side have the capacity to crack the top-six for the first time since 2021.
“I don’t know if we can,” Moyes said. “If I’m realistic, I think for us to be a top-six team is probably speaking too much. I think the level of the teams like Newcastle and Villa with their resources. Brighton might have a bit of a stickier time because of their European football as well.
“I think there are a bundle of teams up there who are in amongst it and playing so well and because of that I think it’ll make it really tough. Whether we can hang onto their shirttails and see where we go.
“The season before last we had a period up until Christmas where we were in the Champions League spots. So, we've been challenging and we're trying to get back up there, we really are, but I am fully aware we are still in a period where we are trying to make things better and integrate two or three players who have come in the team. We're still probably looking to add to it as we go along as well.”
Moyes has so far negated a hectic fixture list well, with his team also top of their Europa League group and through to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
The Scot admits, however, that the Hammers have been fortunate with a lack of injuries, which have allowed them to remain remarkably consistent with their team selection in the Premier League.
Moyes has also made just one substitution in each of his last two games - both the late introduction of midfielder Pablo Fornals - and challenged his squad players to give him more reason to rotate as the schedule kicks into overdrive through the Christmas period.
“We're probably one of the clubs with the least amount of injuries, but we understand there will be a period where it comes,” he said. “We lost two boys [Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio] in the international break. I will need to find ways of getting others on but other players need to play themselves into the team and in form as well. They need to show us that I can put them in.
“We’re playing these boys and I’ve got to see how much they can keep playing. But I’m needing the other players to show me, when they’re given the opportunities, to show me their form. We’re needing that.”
