11:27am Monday 8th March 2010
WEST HAM boss Gianfranco Zola has admitted 'nobody is expecting anything' when his team travel to Stamford Bridge and then the Emirates to face two of the sides vying for the Premier League title.
The Hammers face a trip to league favourites Chelsea next Saturday before heading to north London for a game against Arsenal the following week.
Zola hopes his side can spring a surprise against the two high-fliers, much in the same way that his players did against Bolton at the weekend. However, the shock then was an alarmingly lacklustre start to the game that saw the visitors race into a two goal lead before the game was 16 minutes old.
The Italian manager refused to condemn his team to defeat against the Blues and the Gunners, having taken two points from those matches last season.
“They are big teams and big games and probably nobody is expecting anything for us, but football is strange,” said Zola. “Last year we got a point in both games so you never know what is going to happen. I'm not going to go there already beaten because I know the football can result in surprise.”
He recognised that there would have to be a significant improvement from Saturday's performance for those results to be replicated.
“The game (against Bolton) is going to be a big lesson for everyone in that respect,” he added. “To be fair the fact they only came back for yesterday's training, it didn't help to prepare the game the way I wanted. It is important and it's a mental stage and it can be worked on.
“Away games are difficult so we need to make sure we get the points somewhere else. That's the only thing we have to do. You put pressure on the home games so you need to get some points away from home.”
Zola knows he faces a fight until the end to secure the Hammers' top league status, and he believes another ten points from the last 10 games can guarantee their survival.
“We are thinking safety is 37 or 38 points. It's difficult for everybody but that should be enough.
This has been a season where we couldn't get it going as much as we wanted. That is the thing that frustrates me the most. We have to understand that this is going to be a tough season until the end.”
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