West Ham United were feeling very happy with themselves after securing a precious point at London rivals Chelsea last time out.
West Ham have turned a corner of late with a 3-0 win over Southampton and a draw at Chelsea giving them a six point gap over the bottom three with six games to go – and seven points above Stoke.
David Moyes was only handed a six month contract when he first took over after Slaven Bilic’s sacking in November.
But reports claim he will be offered a longer-term deal should he keep the Hammers up.
A win over Stoke on Monday night would more or less secure survival for West Ham with 37 points widely recognised as being enough given the points, goal differences and remaining fixtures of the bottom seven.
West Ham will go into the game as favourites and full of confidence after recent results.
But Hammers legend Tony Cottee has brought Moyes’ side crashing back down to earth with a pretty damning assessment of their performance at Stamford Bridge on Sky Sports News.
“It’s a fantastic point in terms of getting away from the relegation mire, but they didn’t play well at all, certainly in the first half,” Cottee told Sky Sports News.
“They hung on in, battled away and Javier Hernandez came on and did what he’s good at.
“They could’ve had a penalty, too.”
While Moyes will be trying to keep things positive in the West Ham dressing room, Cottee’s criticism is the perfect wake-up call to ensure complacency doesn’t creep in before such a huge game for the club against the Potters.
Complacency has been the buzz word in East London this season with Hammers fans accusing the owners, management and players of allowing it to creep in from transfers to training and performances on the pitch.
It did for Bilic’s job in the end and reared its ugly head during a torrid run of results under Moyes in the last couple of months which dragged West Ham back into the mire.
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