Moyes urges Hammers to use home form in battle to survive

David Moyes wants his embattled West Ham side to make the most of home advantage when they host Aston Villa on Sunday.

Moyes remains under pressure with his side in the thick of the relegation battle and coming off a 4-0 humbling away to Brighton last weekend.

A 2-0 win away to AEK Larnaca in the Europa League on Thursday has improved the mood somewhat but the battle for Premier League survival is the main priority and Moyes needs to get points on the board as speculation over his position continues.

Nine of West Ham’s opening 12 fixtures of 2023 have been away from home, but the London Stadium has brought comforts, with the Hammers taking seven points from the last nine available in the league at home.

“To get a positive result this weekend, we need to play as well as we have done in our recent other home games,” Moyes said.

“Our home form seems to be much better than our away form at the moment, but hopefully we can keep that going. We’ve got a chunk of home games coming up in the weeks to come. Aston Villa is our next game and we need to focus on that.”

The 4-0 loss to Brighton came after victory by the same scoreline against Nottingham Forest, and Moyes wants his side to find some consistency after an up and down run of results.

“I think the confidence levels are fine in our players,” he said.

“We’re coming back from a good win in midweek and we won our last home game. We also drew with Chelsea in the one before that and beat Everton before that too, so we’re back at home for only our fourth home game this year. But we’re looking forward to it.

“It’s consistency from the team. That is what we’re after. We want consistency in that we play well and we keep the standards up like we have over the last two or three years. The whole team, we all need to look for better consistency.”

Manuel Lanzini started in Larnaca on Thursday, his ninth start in Europe this year. But the 30-year-old Argentinian has not started a Premier League match since the opening-day defeat to Manchester City, and has only seven league appearances in total – something he is desperate to change.

“I want to be important in every game for the team because that is what I train for,” Lanzini said on the club’s website. “Now, I am starting in the Europa matches but I want to play more in the Premier League.

“I am happy to be in the starting XI. The West Ham fans are crazy. It is always a pleasure to play for them.”