Mark Noble says every West Ham United player is relishing the prospect of tackling Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
The Premier League champions arrive at London Stadium having already secured the title, and are aiming to break host of top-flight records over the closing weeks of the season.
However, the Hammers are themselves desperate to achieve the victory that would all but secure their Premier League status and, having lost just two of 12 home matches under David Moyes, the captain is hopeful of getting one over Pep Guardiola’s team.
“Everyone in the dressing room is really looking forward to today’s game against the Premier League champions Manchester City,” the No16 wrote in today’s Official Programme. “As players, these are the matches you really look forward to, testing yourself against the very best.
“City have got a squad full of top-class players and, if they play their best, it’s very difficult for anyone to stop them. But, if we play our best, and they have a slight off-day, we’ve got a really good chance to get something.
“I’m expecting the supporters to make quite an atmosphere inside the stadium today, because we’re going to need their support too.”
We need to try and unsettle them from the kick-off and then keep up our work-rate and the quality in our play, both defensive and attacking, for the whole 90 minutes
Mark Noble
City have been in almost unstoppable form domestically, losing just two Premier League matches – to Liverpool and Manchester United – and thrashing Swansea City 5-0 last weekend.
“We need to try and unsettle them from the kick-off and then keep up our work-rate and the quality in our play, both defensive and attacking, for the whole 90 minutes. We need a bit of luck, to restrict our mistakes, individual players to make big plays at times, and everyone needs to defend superbly, as we did up at their place before Christmas, and that will give us a chance.
“We can’t just sit and wait. We’ve got to take the game to them and if we do that, play well, and still lose, then so be it. We’ve got to have a go.”
While Noble has tasted victory just twice in 17 meetings with City, the 30-year-old has enjoyed plenty of wins over the Premier League’s so-called big boys during his Hammers career.
Today, he is targeting another one.
“I’m looking forward to it. You never know. Sometimes, things happen in life which aren’t supposed to happen. If we play well, there’s always a chance.
“It’s similar to a few years back when you’d face Manchester United and you knew they were the best team, but we beat them a few times, and we can win today.”