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West Ham United face a tough test on Wednesday night when they meet reigning Premier League champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side go into the fixture against his former club as underdogs, but the Chilean coach will believe that his team has what it takes to pull off a positive result, having already beaten Arsenal and Manchester United and earned draws with Chelsea and Liverpool this season.
These impressive results against ‘big six’ sides have helped the Hammers to their current position of 9th in the table, which many would consider a fair placing for the Irons. Pellegrini, though, has been more vague on what constitutes success for his side.
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What he said
Speaking ahead of the east London club’s clash in Manchester, as quoted by West Ham’s official website, Pellegrini said “we must wait until the end of the season until we can judge how much progress we have made…I will be happy at the end of the season if we are in the position we deserve in the way that we play.”
The manager has clearly been careful not to specify any exact expectations there, and beyond saying that “we are never fighting for relegation, we always try to have a winning mentality”, he gave no indication of what he thinks would be a good league finish.
Aiming high
Pellegrini should be showing more ambition with his comments. With the quality he has in his squad, and the likes of Declan Rice, Issa Diop and Felipe Anderson all impressing, the 65-year-old can afford to be more demanding in public.
Only four points currently separate West Ham and 7th-placed Watford. With the top six pulling ahead in a pack of their own, there’s no reason that West Ham shouldn’t be aiming to be the ‘best of the rest’. By articulating that ambition publicly, Pellegrini would be making a bold statement to everyone that he and his side really mean business.