By Hughie Southon
David Moyes justifiably is feeling a lot more confident after recent results and another acid test will emerge tomorrow night at Old Trafford.
But the manager heads for Manchester insisting the spirit in the team is fine and that given our recent performances we have a decent chance of making it into the quarter finals of the FA Cup.
He will be without two first teamers in Vladimir Coufal and Lukasz Fabianski who he would have rested anyway give that Alphone Areola is our Cup keeper.
Fabiański has got a fractured cheekbone and eye socket and the club is deciding whether he should undergo surgery. Coufal, meanwhile, has a heel injury but word is that he is likely to be available for the match at the weekend away at bogey team Brighton and Hove Albion.
Danny Ings is cup tied and whether Gianluca Scamacca is available remains to be seen with Michael Antonio the other option.
Moyes talking at his pre-match presser said: “We try to focus on the games one at a time and we focused really well on Nottingham Forest and that got us a really important three points in the league, and goals as well, which have been difficult to come by. But I am really pleased with how the players performed and hopefully, we can build on it and keep it going.
Everyone has seen a much-improved Manchester United. I thought Newcastle played very well in the Carabao Cup final as well.
It was a tight game but Manchester United got there in the end. They have got a really strong squad of players but we feel as if we are improving and as if we are getting a little bit closer to our past selves, so hopefully, we can show that and put on a good show in the game.
I would love to get West Ham to a cup final. I would love to win a cup final if we could get there. We had a great run at Everton and got to the final one year and beat in the semi-final one year. I would love to be able to take West Ham into a similar position.”
