Ben Johnson is honest in his assessment of proceedings.
“It’s not been a good season for us,” he remarked, ahead of Saturday’s Premier League fixture against Nottingham Forest. “It's a huge push now until the end.”
Of course, the 23-year-old is right. The Hammers sit 18th in the league table, with five wins from 23 games. They have won just once on their travels in the Premier League – away to Aston Villa in August last year – so will be relieved to be back in front of the home support this weekend.
Despite the tricky away form, since the turn of the year the Irons are unbeaten at London Stadium. A victory against Everton and a battling draw from a match with Chelsea give confidence an important three points can follow. A positive result against Forest would stretch that unbeaten home run in 2023 to three matches.
But the task is not an easy one, Steve Cooper's men have been impressive this season, although, like the Hammers, have struggled on their travels. Saturday's visitors have won one of their 11 away games since promotion to the top-flight in May last year and have failed to score in eight.
For Johnson, then, it is not about wanting to win anymore - but needing to.
“We are not taking anything for granted in the last 15 games,” Johnson exclaimed, with a steely determination. “We have to stick together, more than ever.
“We’ve got so much experience in the dressing room. There is no worrying about other teams, we need to worry about what we can do. We need to look around our squad and know there is so much quality there.
Now with over 70 appearances to his name, Johnson came through the ranks at Chadwell Heath, after joining West Ham at the age of seven. A first-team debut came in 2019, a first senior goal a year later. He has seen off the threat of relegation once before – and is ready to play his part again.
“I’ve got very close friends of mine that are West Ham fans, that I’ve known since the age of 11 or 12,” he adds. “You pride yourself on being the best every single game, so to be in this position is really hard. You do lose sleep and you do want the table to change but it is not going to change without us out-working teams and being better than them.”
Key to any success at London Stadium will be the atmosphere and with what is on the line, nerves can often feed onto the pitch.
Johnson, then, is adamant that both players and fans must be positive. If the Irons are to get the win, the 23-year-old believes the fans’ support will play its part.
“We just ask for the support of the home fans, to get behind us no matter what happens,” he urged. “If someone plays a bad pass, just keep encouraging us, it will help us and spur us on. We need that support and that encouragement. We need the fans to get behind us and give that specific player confidence.
“We still have time to rectify [our position in the table]. All the teams around us are irrelevant as long as we do our job. As long as we win the games we need to, we will be okay.”
