Joe Hart will start West Ham United’s Premier League fixture against Burnley, manager David Moyes has confirmed.
Speaking to newspaper journalists in his pre-match press conference, Moyes said the England international will replace Adrian between the sticks at London Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Hart will be involved from kick-off in a Premier League game for the first time since Moyes’ second game in charge at Everton on 29 November. His last first-team appearance came on 27 January, when he started the Emirates FA Cup fourth-round tie at Wigan Athletic.
“Joe Hart will start on Saturday,” Moyes confirmed. “Although it was not necessarily down to the fact we conceded eight goals in the last two matches, was I happy with the nature of the goals we conceded? No, I was not. With one of the games [at Liverpool], you might have said ‘right, OK’, but the other one [at Swansea City] I was not happy with.
“Joe has been good. I’ve got big competition in some positions and that is good. You have to play well if you’re going to play. There is big pressure if you don’t perform.
“There were a couple of games where I wasn’t happy that we had done quite as well as we could have done.”
With the England squad for friendly matches with the Netherlands and Italy set to be named soon, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia just three months away, the 30-year-old’s recall will also boost his international prospects.
On a totally different subject, Moyes also revealed that he has invited some of West Ham’s popular former players to Rush Green to watch training and educate him and his staff about the history of the Club.
“I’m having dinner with [former Academy Director] Tony Carr and one or two other people who have been part of the Club, so I’m building up my knowledge on West Ham and trying to become more informed.
“I want to embrace the ex-players. We’ve had Ray Stewart and Tony Cottee down, I’ve invited Tony Gale in and I’m trying to get Frank McAvennie down from Scotland. I’ve told them they can come and watch training, as I’ve got nothing to hide, or come to a game.
“For football clubs to flourish, they need the ex-players around it, even around the training ground. If any of the ex-players want to come in, we’re saying come down and have lunch with us.”