Former West Ham United and Everton star Don Hutchison says David Moyes will be desperate to get one over his former club on Wednesday evening.
Moyes makes his third return to Goodison Park since ending his eleven-year spell in charge of the Toffees in May 2013, but has ended on the losing side on his two visits since then.
However, Hutchison says his fellow Scot will not let those defeats, in 2013/14 with Manchester United and last season with Sunderland, affect him, but will instead make him more desperate to show an Everton struggling for results and without a permanent manager what they are missing.
In the process, West Ham would also end their own poor run at Goodison, where they have won just once in their last ten Premier League visits.
“I think over the course of the last five or ten years, I always thought it was always a tricky place for West Ham to go to,” said Hutchison, who failed to win on three trips to the blue half of Liverpool as a Hammer.
“I remember playing there for West Ham and lost a few times but there is added spice to this match with David Moyes going back to Goodison Park.
“As an ex-player, and I’m sure managers are the same, you always want to go back to your old stomping ground and try and get the three points. In the current situation West Ham are in, he certainly needs it.”
You always want to go back to your old stomping ground and try and get the three points
Don Hutchison
Hutchison, who scored 18 goals in 110 appearances in Claret and Blue across two spells between 1994 and 2004, was impressed by the way the Hammers’ fans roared their team on against Leicester City on Friday evening.
The support West Ham received as they came from a goal down to grab a deserved draw reminded the 46-year-old of the 1994/95 season, when a late-season surge saw Harry Redknapp’s surge escape the relegation zone to finish 14th.
Hutchison led the charge, netting nine goals in 23 Premier League appearances, including vital strikes in wins over Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers and Liverpool, to help his side stave off the drop.
And the Gateshead-born player-turned-pundit says the present-day Hammers need a few heroes to emerge if they are to repeat history 23 years on.
“I’ve been involved in relegation scraps before at West Ham, during the 1994/95 season, and the fans have always stuck by us, we appreciated this so much and I’m sure they will do the same.
“I’m pretty convinced that West Ham can get out of this but they’re going to need to start doing it quickly.”