Fonte identifies key-areas of West Ham’s improvement
West Ham have fought back from relegation threat to be contenders for a top-ten finish, after shattering Tottenham Hotspur’s title winning dreams on Friday night with a victory at the London Stadium.
The narrow 1-0 victory is the latest success in a key sequence of results for the Hammers, who now stand five games unbeaten since losing 3-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium at the start of February.
Slaven Bilic’s side have improved defensively, switching to 3-4-2-1 system, and have kept four clean sheets in their last five Premier League matches- which January signing Jose Fonte believes has been key to turning things around.
Speaking to the club’s official website, the Portuguese defender spoke about how he feels the club can still finish in the top-ten and stated he wants to keep the formidable run going in this weekend’s clash with Liverpool.
“We are pleased, but we still have two games to go and two wins to get. We have a massive game against Liverpool and we want to finish in the top ten, so we have got to win those two games. It’s another big game on Sunday and we want to replicate what we did against Tottenham.”
“We have found a good system and we’ve been excellent in the last four games, so I’m pleased, because as a defender it’s good to keep clean sheets. The three points are always more important, but the clean sheet matters to me!”
Having ended Spurs’ dreams of winning the Premier League, West Ham can provide similar problems for Liverpool this weekend as taking points off Jurgen Klopp’s side could lead the Reds to fail to achieve a top-four finish and miss out on the Champions League.
With West Ham boasting a formidable defence, Liverpool may struggle at the London Stadium as Klopp’s side have scored just three goals in their last four Premier League games and their back-line has looked shaky all season.
Fans in East London will have had their morale boosted significantly by the victory over Spurs and a second-consecutive in on Sunday would boost the Hammers season, after what has been a difficult maiden campaign at the London Stadium.
The battle for a top-half finish is fierce this season and West Ham need to pick up further victories in their two remaining matches, as they’re one of three sides in the Premier League boasting 42 points- and there’s just five points separating eighth in the table from 15th.