DRIVING IRONS
Ward-prowse leads fatigue-busting battlers
DAVID MOYES is backing weary West Ham to cope with the fatigue of Premier League and Europa League football.
The Irons host Nottingham Forest today after a gruelling 1-0 home win over Olympiakos on Thursday, while Steve Cooper’s men have not played since beating Aston Villa last Sunday.
But although conceding that is a significant difference in preparation time, Moyes (below) believes his players are capable of holding their own physically this afternoon – and he has the data to prove it.
And right up there leading from the front when it comes to the club’s
sizzling stamina stats is summer signing James Ward-prowse.
Renowned for his creativity and being a supreme dead-ball specialist, the England outcast also possesses an amazing ability to deliver tireless performances match after match, according to Moyes.
Ahead of their seventh outing in all competitions in 22 days, the West Ham supremo said: “Let me tell you, if you’re talking about stamina then we have some of the best ones for that.
“Tomas Soucek, Declan Rice last year – these guys could go on and on and continue doing so.
“And James fits exactly into that category as well. We have the group who can do this. “But there’s a difference between just going again or being right at your top level. There might be bits where you drop off.
“To come back and prepare for a game in two days is not easy.”
That is borne out by the fact West Ham, despite progressing into the Carabao Cup
‘If you talk about stamina, we have some of the best’
last eight and topping their Europa League group, have lost three on the bounce in the league – to Aston Villa, Everton and Brentford.
“Those games in one month were very tough when you think we played Brentford, who had a week to prepare, and it was the same against Everton,” explained Moyes.
If Ward-prowse, Brazilian playmaker Lucas Paqueta and top scorer Jarrod Bowen are grabbing the headlines for the Hammers at present, Moyes reckons Italian wing-back Emerson has been his top performer.
Considered little more than cover when he arrived in August last year, the former Chelsea and Roma ace, 29, is fast becoming an automatic first choice.
Tracing that rise to prominence in East London back to June’s Europa Conference League final success, Moyes added: “He found his best form around that time. For me, he was probably our man of the match.”