David Moyes says his West Ham United team will not be taking anything for granted when they take on AEK Larnaca in the second leg of our UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 tie on Thursday.
The Hammers take a 2-0 lead into the London Stadium game, after Michail Antonio struck twice in Cyprus last week, but Moyes told his pre-match press conference that the job was far from complete.
With a second successive European quarter-final up for grabs, Moyes is determined to grasp the opportunity and use it as a springboard for their Premier League campaign, too.
It’s a good opportunity to get some more momentum and reach the quarter-finals.
It’s something we’ve worked really hard for last year, finishing seventh in the league, which gave us the chance to be in the Conference League. We’re enjoying it, we’ve enjoyed the trips to Europe, we enjoyed the result last week.
We’ve got a job to do on Thursday night to ensure we get the job done and finish it off, and if we can do that we’d reach another quarter-final in European competition two years in a row. It’s important, it really is.
We’re expecting a big crowd and we’ve had great crowds over the last two seasons.
The West Ham fans have really enjoyed the European games, we took a big crowd away to Cyprus last week, and they’ll all be really hoping we can get to the quarter-finals and further this year as well.
It would be great to reach another quarter-final.
It’s a big job, it’s the first thing you have to do. The big thing and what we really want is to reach the final, but we can’t get to the final unless we get to the quarter-finals first and we have to be focused completely on doing that job.
Maxi Cornet has been out for five months and we probably put him in on Saturday because we felt there was more chance to run in behind and, that was the case.
We’ll try to give him minutes on Thursday night too. If anyone is out for five months they’d need a good pre-season, friendly games etcetera, but we know we’re in a situation where we have to act quite quick and he’s shown a couple of bits. He made a great pass for Lucas Paquetá in Cyprus, so I think his attributes are that he has the ability to get around the goals, so let’s hope we can get him to do that.
I thought Sunday was Jarrod Bowen's best game he’s had for a long time, he played really well.
He attacked people, took them on the inside and outside, got to the byline and he did an awful lot of good things. I told him I thought it was the best game he’s had for a long, long time. He’s bee a little bit behind, but it’s not unexpected, he’s had a couple of years in the Premier League, pushed on, had a bit of a dip bit I’m hoping he’s on his way back to some real form.
He's also important to us as a goalscorer, because we see him as a wide player who creates, but also as an inside forward who can nick you a few goals as well. His goals for us have been crucial for us over the past couple of years, and we’ve missed them to be honest.
Łukasz Fabianski is desperate to come back [and is training in a mask to protect his eye socket].
He feels that he’s ready, medically we’re a little bit unsure because the worry that he might get another ball in the face, and being a goalkeeper there’s probably a better chance of that than ever.
He’s saying he’s not bothered by it and he wants to get back playing, and he wants to play without a mask. I think the mask is there for protection in training. More than likely, by the time we’re back in a couple of weeks, hopefully he won’t be too far away.
I'm delighted for Krisztián Hegyi and his first call-up for Hungary.
I have to say Xavi [Valero] the goalkeeper coach works really hard with the keepers and he has a little conveyer belt of how he sees it going. He’s done a good job in trying to develop the goalkeepers and it’s quite a process, when you think it’s only one position and trying to get them in the team.
I'm really pleased for him, he’s doing well, he’s a big lad, he’s improving and getting called up to your national team is really important.
