West Ham United defender Craig Dawson has made some confident comments about the Irons and their mentality ahead of his side’s Europa League return-leg clash against Sevilla.
The Lowdown: First leg
The Hammers’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the competition hang in the balance after they succumbed to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the hands of Sevilla in the first-leg of their last-16 tie.
Munir El Haddadi scored the only goal of the game, meaning the Irons now trail ahead of Thursday night’s return-leg, where David Moyes will be hoping that the home crowd can make a big difference to the end result.
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The Latest: Dawson’s claim
Following West Ham’s emphatic 2-1 win over Aston Villa at the weekend, Dawson has stressed just how important this confidence boost will be when the Hammers line up against the Spanish side, in one of their most crucial fixtures of recent years.
Via The West Ham Way, he said: “We’ll take confidence from this into Thursday.
“Credit to the lads and all the staff for today’s win. It’s all about recovery now and getting ourselves ready for Thursday night.”
The Verdict: Great result ahead of Sevilla
The result against Villa will come as a huge boost to Moyes, who will be relying on a big push in what could be their last 90 minutes in the Europa League for some time.
The likes of Declan Rice and Kurt Zouma will relish performing on the European stage, given their importance to the side, demonstrated by their displays in the first leg, where the pair both received team-high 7.4 ratings (via SofaScore).
If Dawson’s claim is right and the Hammers can go into the game feeling supremely confident, this will come as a huge boost for Moyes and there is no reason they can't turn last week's solid performance into one better and win.
In other news: West Ham United: Michail Antonio faces injury blow ahead of Sevilla