West Ham United take on Swansea City in the Premier League on Saturday, with both sides desperate for victory.
The Hammers most recently lost 3-2 against London rivals Spurs, a game they were 3-0 down in before almost turning the game on its head. They of course didn’t, and defender Jose Fonte says despite being disappointed with the end result, they are looking forward to getting the ball rolling again against the Swans.
After a torrid start to the Premier League season, West Ham look like they are on track to being back to their best. But Fonte knows Swansea will not be an easy task despite them struggling so far this season.
“Our last game was a disappointing result,” Fonte told West Ham’s Official Programme.
“We obviously wanted to give the fans the bragging rights of the derby, so we’re not happy we didn’t do that, but we put our hearts in the game, we were aggressive and we wanted to win.”
“We’re not happy with the result, but we tried to fight back and we nearly did it, so there is no feeling of moral victory, but it’s important to know that it’s a long season and this game is gone and if we can get the three points today, we go into the international break with a positive feeling.”
Fonte then looked ahead to their game on Saturday against Swansea, another side who are struggling so far this season.
“Swansea is a team which plays with three centre-backs, so we expect a tough game, like every game in the Premier League is, but if we bring the same intensity, desire and passion that we brought against Huddersfield, that will give us a great opportunity to win the game.”
“Obviously you still need the quality to win games, but if you bring those things then it’s more than 50 per cent in your favour, because with the players we have in our team, we are always going to create chances. We just need to take them. We also need to get back to keeping clean sheets and defend well.”
“That said, I think Swansea are a good team, they have improved from last year, so I think it’s going to be an interesting game.”
[Quotes sourced via WHUFC.com]