Lucas Paquetá is confident Sunday’s derby clash against Tottenham Hotspur represents the perfect opportunity for West Ham United to turn their disappointing recent form around and spark a strong finish to the season.
The Hammers welcome their capital rivals to London Stadium sat 17th in the Premier League table, following a seven-game winless run that most recently delivered a last-gasp 3-2 defeat away at Brighton & Hove Albion.
While acknowledging the team’s performances and results haven’t been good enough of late, Paquetá believes there have been flashes of quality throughout recent weeks, that stitched together could yield the points desired.
Spurs arrive on the back of a similarly frustrating spell in the league, having lost five of their last six such outings, and our No10 is looking to feed off what promises to be a bouncing atmosphere, and earn a victory that would see the Hammers leapfrog their visitors in the standings.
“It’s a big game, and an opportunity to put things right,” he said. “We go into it after being hurt by the way we lost at Brighton, and we know we’re on a tough run, so we’ll be doing everything we can to get the right result.
“We’ve had time to talk about the last game, to reflect and analyse the small details. We’ve shown some good things in matches, but as players we have to take responsibility for losing focus and not being good enough at times.
“We’re all working hard in training as always, and we just want to do everything in the four games we’ve got left to climb as high in the table as possible.
“We go again on Sunday, and we know how important this game is. A derby like this is the kind of match every player wants to be involved in. We know what it means to the fans, and we know it’s something we can take a lot from if we get the result we want.”
Despite falling 4-1 in the reverse fixture, in October 2024, West Ham came into this weekend unbeaten in four Premier League home games against Tottenham; their longest run since a run of six between 1995 and 2001.
Among those results was a 1-1 draw in late August 2022, when Paquetá made the first of his 117 appearances for the Irons following his switch from French outfit Lyon, at the start of a campaign that would end with him helping his side to UEFA Europa Conference League glory.
The 27-year-old added: “I will always remember my debut fondly. I was happy, and nervous too because I wanted to show our fans what I could do.
“We ended up doing well that season, and now we want to do well again. We want to finish strongly, and I think that would help us going into the summer and next season.
“We want to deliver happiness to the fans who have supported us throughout the ups and downs, and for them also we want to deliver a better season next year.”