West Ham right-back Vladimir Coufal remains confident that they can bounce back after their mini blip in the Premier League in recent weeks.
The Hammers will make the short trip across the capital to face Crystal Palace on New Years Day (Saturday, 5.30pm) as they look to get back on track and remain among the league’s front-runners.
They were also due to travel away to Watford last night (Tuesday) Covid permitting as the Hornet hadn’t played since December, 10 due to a high number of positive cases among the squad.
“We have to keep fighting together,” Coufal said. “In this period the schedule is like any other Christmas period in the Premier League, but unfortunately this time is more difficult because some teams have a rest, some teams are playing.
“We need to stay together and positive. We have had a good season and are still up in the table but we have to take back our basic things – do them properly and we have to be better defensively, as well as being more clinical in attack.
“These are basic things, but sometimes it happens [like this].”
Forward Michail Antonio also remains confident that the Hammers can turn their fortunes around much like his team-mate Coufal.
“We’re only halfway through the season. We started the season well and it’s still one of the best starts to a season we’ve had so we can’t think negatively. We’ve got to think of the positives as well.
“We’re in sixth and we’re halfway through the season so there’s still another 20 games to go – and we will go to the end.”
West Ham face an important start to the New Year with the big guns starting to pull clear in the Champions League places and them slowly slipping down the league table in recent weeks.
Injuries have been building up and the Hammers could look to dip into the January transfer window especially for defensive reinforcements with Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna sidelined for a lengthy spell of time.
It has been rumoured West Ham may look to target Manchester City defender Nathan Ake to bolster their options at the back.
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