It is generally customary that managers of teams playing each other find at least something nice to say about the other, though there are notable exceptions of course. However, in anticipation of his team’s weekend match with the West Ham, Everton boss Roberto Martinez heaped some very high and sincere praise on the Hammers, opining that they could “clearly” challenge for a top-5 position in the Premier League, TalkSport reports.
The biggest strength of this West Ham side is they play with an incredible belief and confidence.
The results that they have had, especially this season, they start on the psychological aspect of having the belief that you can beat those sides. To get those results, away from home, it’s very impressive.
You have new players, a new manager coming in having them playing a very different way, it’s going to be a terrific challenge.
You look at the amount of points they have already – clearly they are a team that are going to be challenging to finish in the top five positions in the league. It’s how impressive they’ve been.
We’re going to make sure that we are ready to face them. In my eyes, with Leicester, they’ve been the most impressive side this season.
With victories against Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea already this season, it is no wonder why the Hammers are riding such a wave of confidence, and why it would be silly not to consider them a threat for European football next season.
West Ham will face a stern challenge against an Everton side that bounced back from tough losses against Manchester United and Arsenal to claim a spot in the League Cup quarterfinals by defeating Norwich on penalties and then putting six past Sunderland this past Sunday.
Both teams realise the importance of any match that immediately precedes an international break, and their respective table positions and ambitions make this match especially significant. Martinez continued:
The periods that you’ve got now, with the international break, that’s why the West Ham game is like a final within the league.
We all want to finish that period strongly. Our game against Sunderland gave us a real sense of confidence in what we can do going forward. We know that we need to improve in other aspects, but you will always get the confidence you get from scoring six goals from open play.
We see the West Ham game as one of the games of the season for many reasons. The best reason to highlight is that Leicester and West Ham have been the best teams in the opening campaign.
Clearly we want to be at our best against a team that is in form, a team that has surprised many opposing teams.
The 9th place Toffees visit Upton Park to take on the 7th place Hammers this Saturday at 15:00 local time.
