Players are queuing up to break into my West Ham team – David Moyes

Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United – Premier League – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
(Image credit: Clive Rose)

West Ham manager David Moyes insists there is good competition for places at the club as they prepare to host Aston Villa on Monday.

The Hammers are eighth in the Premier League table heading into the weekend and would move ahead of Villa with victory at the London Stadium.

Despite being without Michail Antonio for over a month, Sebastien Haller has stepped into the role and West Ham are currently on a two-match winning run.

“Yes, we want competition for places,” Moyes said. “I think we’ve got that now. We’ve got a few people who are queuing up, waiting to try and break into the team and get into the side.

“So hopefully when they get the opportunity they’ll be ready, but yeah we’ve got good competition at the moment.”

In the absence of Antonio, who scored three times across his first six appearances of the season, West Ham have seen eight different players score their last eight goals.

Moyes said: “It is good and I’m really pleased with it, I didn’t actually know that stat but I think that it does show that we’re trying to get different people forward and get different people in the box.

“We’d like our centre-forwards to come in with the big numbers because that’s what you need at the end of the season but I have to say I’ll take goals from wherever they come and I’m pleased that everybody’s getting the chance to get a few goals.”

Aston Villa have started this season in good form, including a 7-2 win over champions Liverpool and Moyes expects a difficult game.

He said: “I watched them against Arsenal and they were really, really good and it shows you how far they’ve come on as a club.

“I think their recruitment’s been excellent over the summer and I think it’s given them a great chance of improving from where they were last year.”

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