West Ham United enters Saturday's match against Wigan Athletic with a chance to move closer in the Premier League standings. The club is off to its best start in over a decade and is matched up against a team that is inching closer to relegation.
West Ham is in seventh place in the Premier League, while Wigan is 16th. Both teams have played eight matches
"We never saw it as relegation battle from the start. We were simply focused on finishing as high up the table as we could," said West Ham manager Sam Allardyce to ESPNFC.com. "The players all know what we have to do to go where we want to go and that is mid-table, so hopefully it happens at the first time of asking. Of course survival is the ultimate but, if we can do better than that in year one, I will be delighted."
West Ham has played well of late and took on Southampton on Oct. 20 in their last Premier League match, dominating 4-2. Mark Noble came through for United, netting two goals.
Kevin Nolan has led the way for West Ham with four goals this season, while Ricardo Vaz Te has notched two assists.
Wigan has had a tough go on defense this year, allowing 15 goals in eight matches.
"We're really looking forward to playing at home, and the next game for us is vitally important, to be able to get all the good things together and to start getting the results we deserve," said Wigan manager Roberto Martinez. "Against Swansea we were a little bit disappointed. We worked really hard and you're not going to get many teams who go there and make more passes than the home team."
Wigam fell to Swansea City 2-1 on Oct. 20.
"But we had a period where we conceded two soft goals and then you're giving yourself a very difficult task. But the reaction was very, very good," said Martinez.
West Ham has been solid defensively this season and has scored 12 goals in eight matches. Wigan has been outmatched this year, allowing 15 goals and only scoring eight. So far the team has only earned five points in eight matches.
"That's the challenge - reflecting points in the good work the players are doing on the pitch, and that's where we are. We're not going to look away from the responsibility to try to correct that as quickly as we can," said Martinez.
Wigan will be shorthanded on Saturday, playing without Ryo Miyaichi and Antolín Alcaraz, as well as Albert Crusat, who is dealing with a knee injury.
"I'm very excited, I'm very pleased with the signs we've shown so far and it's time to get a win and develop that into a very good season.," said Martinez.
Wigan has lost four of the last six Premier League matches, but was able to beat West Ham 4-1 on Sept. 25 in the Capital One Cup.
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