'Expect A Strong West Ham Side' - The Hammers' Perspective

LCFC Men
28 May 2023
3 Minutes
Phil Parry, from BBC Radio London, expects Leicester City to be confronted with a talented and highly-motivated West Ham United side on Sunday.

- Leicester City host West Ham United at King Power Stadium on Sunday (4:30pm BST kick-off)
- The final-day Premier League clash sees the Foxes battle for their top-flight status
- BBC Radio London's Phil Parry has offered West Ham's perspective on the game
- He says the Hammers will be eager for three points despite their European exploits 

City need a win and for results elsewhere to go their way to retain their Premier League status, while the Hammers are building up to the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League.

David Moyes' men - who are already safe in the Premier League - have been paired with Fiorentina in the UECL showpiece, but must first tackle a Leicester side who will fight for every ball on Filbert Way. 

Ahead of that final-day showdown in the East Midlands, Parry spoke to Matchday Live to preview the match and to offer a West Ham perspective on the key talking points.

"The final is another week and a half beyond this, on 7 June," he explained. "It’s not as if the players are going to have to go from playing this on the Sunday and then flying out to Prague for a midweek final. From that point of view, I don’t think there’s any danger. There is, of course, the fact that some of the players this year have played a lot of football.

"Jarrod Bowen, for example, has hardly missed a game in the Premier League. In Europe, Moyes did use his squad a little bit more, certainly in the earlier stages. It will be a balance between not wanting players to drop off too much from their game time and their fitness and maybe making sure that you can take some players out of the fray.

Pablo Fornals send West Ham into the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League earlier this month.

"He went pretty strong in the last game against Leeds last Sunday. Moyes understands the integrity of the competition so it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a very similar team to the one he picked against Leeds.

"He also has got, I suppose, a tug of the heart strings when it comes to Everton. Also, the players want to play. A lot of those players would rather play a game than have to do an extra couple of training sessions."

It's been a challenging season for West Ham, although they have managed to overcome many hurdles. It seemed at one stage as though they would be battling relegation, but are now looking at a highest-possible finish of 12th in the table. Parry believes their early woes will be forgotten, though, if they are able to win the Europa Conference League.

The back end of the campaign has been much more positive and makes people feel happier about where they are at the moment.

Phil Parry BBC Radio London

"The first chunk of the season, even through the New Year, was worrying in many respects," he added. "The European campaign was the bright spark in what was a disappointing first half of the season.

"There’s been some new players, some of those have taken time to bed in. We’ve seen some of the best of Lucas Paquetá in the last few months. It’s a strange one because they’re in a final and Declan Rice could become only the third West Ham captain to lift significant silverware above his head and yet people are still talking about a disappointing season.

"If they win on Sunday, they’ll be onto 43 points and they’ll be in reasonably-placed in the table, and if they go and beat Fiorentina, it’s silverware.

"If that happens and you look back on that, the detail would show you it was tough for a while, but it ended well. In a league where, really, you can finish anywhere from eighth down to 17th, on paper that seems like a good season. The back end of the campaign has been much more positive and makes people feel happier about where they are at the moment."