'West Ham Responding Well Under New Management'
- West Ham United visit Leicester City in the Premier League on Wednesday (7:30pm kick-off)
- Tony Cottee, who played for both clubs, has previewed the fixture this week
- Cottee says the Hammers have adapted well to David Moyes' methods since his appointment
- Live coverage of the clash is available from 4:30pm on LCFC Radio on Wednesday
West Ham have won four points from a possible nine since Moyes returned for a second spell at London Stadium, while also securing safe passage into the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup.
However, with Wednesday's clash being the first act of a phase in their season which will see them face Manchester City and Liverpool twice, Cottee says sealing points is more important than ever.
"I’ve got faith that they will stay up, but we have said in the past that West Ham sides are too good to go down," he told LCFC.com. "Ultimately at the end of the season, I think they’ll get enough points.
"The problem is that after Leicester, in their next four games they play Liverpool twice, Man City away and also Brighton at home, so they’ve got really tough games coming up.
"Over the next three or four weeks, they could well be in that bottom three, purely because they’re playing against the top three teams and an immediate rival in the Premier League.
"It then becomes even harder in terms of confidence, so they’ve got to dig in. I think they’d certainly take a point because as we know, Leicester are doing really well this season."
Cottee has been impressed by the impact made by Moyes at West Ham and believes, whatever happens on Filbert Way this week, the Hammers will be prepared for the test City will provide.
"I think it’s been a positive response," he added. "They had a good victory against Bournemouth and they delivered a very professional performance against Gillingham in the FA Cup.
"They then, of course, lost in controversial circumstances at Sheffield United due to a late VAR call and then they drew with Everton.
"That Sheffield United game was obviously one of those games where they could have picked up a point, while they played well in the first half of the Everton game.
"They didn’t really kill the game off, but in general, it’s been a good response under new management.
"One thing West Ham will do, because they’ve got a good manager, is that they’ll do their homework. They will have studied Leicester’s last couple of performances.
"I’m sure they will have picked out elements of how Southampton played against them and, to a lesser degree Burnley, because we know Leicester away from home are very dangerous.
"I think in the home games, I’ve seen quite a few of them, and teams put bodies behind the ball and basically try and close the game down.
"Sometimes Leicester can get frustrated with that, so I think that’s what West Ham will try to do, but having said that, West Ham haven’t been brilliant defensively this year.
"Going forward, they’ve got some really talented players who can really hurt Leicester, but it all depends on their fitness going into the game."
Cottee also pointed to the plentiful supply of exciting attacking players at West Ham's disposal, including record signing Sébastien Haller, but insisted the Frenchman needs better service.
"Losing Michail Antonio recently has been a big blow," he continued. "He’s one of those players who, when he plays, is exciting, dynamic and you never know what you’re going to get.
"You’ve then got the ball players like [Manuel] Lanzini and [Pablo] Fornals, who are both really technical players, and then they’ve got a 6ft 2ins striker in Haller.
"He’s scored a few goals this year but at times, he’s been very isolated, and it’s been hard to judge how he’s performed.
"He was obviously a record signing for the club, but with the change of management, and the service has not always been brilliant, you can’t really say how well he’s been doing.
"Certainly, given the service, he’s good enough to finish chances off, so they’ve got plenty of talent going forward and I’ve not mentioned the engine room yet.
"They’ve got Mark Noble, Declan Rice and Robert Snodgrass in there as well, so there’s some very talented players with good back-up in midfield."