Right, we’ve got two huge games coming up at Elland Road now and we all have a part to play.
We need to get that first Premier League win under our belts and there’s no better place to do it than a full Elland Road.
Last season, while we were at home watching on TV and all the seats were empty we won eight of our 19 home games. We all talked about what it would be like when the doors re-opened and we were allowed back. Those teams we hadn’t beaten last season would be in for a shock because they won’t have experienced anything like a packed Elland Road crowd for a good few years.
West Ham were one of those teams who came here and won. 2-1 on a Friday evening not long before Christmas. If we’d have been there, we could have helped that night. That support might have just tipped the balance.
We’ve got our chance again this weekend. To tip that balance. West Ham are emerging this season as a good side. They won’t win the league, but they should be troubling those European spots. They achieved the rare feat of doing the double over of us last season and if anything they look better this time around.
David Moyes has done a great job down there, although I thought his decision to bring Mark Noble on just to take a penalty in the 95th minute against Man United last weekend was bizarre in the least. You can’t say it cost them a point – and their unbeaten start – because someone else could have missed as well, but you never know.
The key battle – and where the game could be decided – is between Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice. The two of them were outstanding playing together for England in the Euros this summer, and I’m sure both have plenty of admirers from the richer clubs both here and abroad.
We’ve talked many times about the importance of Kalvin to us, and from what I’ve seen of West Ham, it’s exactly the same for them with Rice. They are two of the best in Europe at what they do and as sub-plots go, this could be an interesting and decisive one.
