Nuno Espirito Santo wants his team to attack aggressively from the start of the match and strive to take the lead.

West Ham United manager Nuno Espirito Santo has emphasized that his team must respond strongly in Saturday's Championship home game against West Bromwich Albion and quickly regain their winning form. Last week, West Ham suffered a 2-3 defeat to Southampton, ending their nine-game unbeaten league run. Facing the upcoming challenge, the team hopes to adjust their form in time and secure another victory against West Bromwich Albion.

If West Ham United can secure three points in this match, their prospects for a Premier League spot will undoubtedly become much brighter. Currently, second-placed Swansea City are only one point ahead of West Ham, a very narrow gap. However, Nuno Espirito Santo understands that West Bromwich Albion are not an easy opponent, and this match will certainly present a significant challenge for his team.

West Bromwich Albion have continued their excellent form from the final stages of the 2025/26 season, achieving 6 wins and 3 draws in 12 Championship matches so far this season. They are currently ranked fifth in the standings, only two places behind West Ham United and just one point behind in points.

In the pre-match press conference, Nuno Espirito Santo spoke about the upcoming opponents and emphasized that the team must improve their start to the home game. He stated, "We hope to take the initiative from the beginning of the game, rather than always having to wait until we fall behind before being forced to show the necessary responsiveness. We are very clear that the team must perform better in the early stages of the game."

"Our next important task is to help the team get into the game faster than ever before. We hope to show a proactive attitude from the start and try to break the deadlock as soon as possible, because scoring the first goal often has a significant impact on the course of the game."

“I think that some of the team’s previous home results were indeed affected by various factors during the game. However, improving home performance is obviously one of the goals we must strive to achieve. I always believe that home advantage is important, so the whole team knows that we need to continue to improve ourselves and strive to show a better level of competition at home.”

"We will complete our pre-game preparations according to plan and focus all our energy on our performance. We know very well that West Bromwich Albion is a strong team. We have been studying the tactical characteristics of the team under James' coaching, and we can confirm that they are a highly competitive team with many excellent players."

"This is a team that maintains a very compact overall formation, with a solid defense and excellent tactical execution. They have strong physical strength and can actively press high up the pitch, so we fully recognize that they have many advantages. Going forward, we must try to find their defensive weaknesses and exploit them, while also playing to our own strengths. As I emphasized at the beginning of the press conference, we need to ensure that the team can get into match fitness faster than recently."

Image source: Internet/West Ham United official website