West Ham captain and midfielder Mark Noble has called on his side to not underestimate Sunderland ahead of their clash this weekend, quoted by ClubCall.
The Hammers host the Black Cats at the London Stadium with the north east side struggling in the Premier League this season having not won any of their first eight games and drawing two.
Noble, though, believes that that factor shouldn’t mean his team can just turn up and get another three points on the board after beating Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Ahead of Saturday Noble said: “It’s really important that we don’t turn up and the fans don’t turn up and think it’s Sunderland, they’re bottom of the league, we’re going to win. It doesn’t work like that in this league, you have to really earn your points. I was really happy for everyone in the club because we’ve trained really hard in the past two or three weeks. The players really do care and I think that showed on Saturday.”
The 1-0 win against Palace was welcomed with open arms by everyone connected with the club as the Hammers held out with ten men for the last portion of the game after Aaron Cresswell had been sent off.
Because the left-back received his dismissal via two yellow cards no appeal can be lodged and so he will miss the clash with the Black Cats whilst West Ham know that a win could see them move up to twelfth in the Premier League table.
