West Ham United manager, Slaven Bilic has insisted that is club's poor start to the season has nothing to do with the Hammers' move from the Boleyn Ground to the London Stadium.
Need to feel at home
The club and fans alike wouldn't have expected the poor start to the life in Stratford, especially after their excellent season the previous season, finishing sixth in the final season at the much loved Upton Park.
The Hammers have won just the one match so far in the league, which was the 1-0 win over AFC Bournemouth at their new home, as two defeats and a draw followed in their last three games at the London Stadium. Bilic's side return from the international break in desperate need of a positive result against Alan Pardew's Crystal Palace, but the Croatian insisted that their new stadium is nothing to do with their poor start to the campaign.
“The stadium is not a reason, the stadium is great," Bilic told whufc.com. "Many clubs changed stadiums and needed time to settle in, get used to the stadium. It is great stadium and we have to win a few games to feel more at home."
He continued, “Make no mistake, we would rather play at home because there we feel 60,000 people. Of course it is not a relief, we would like to play Palace at home on Saturday.”
Not looking for excuses
Form isn't the only thing that has troubled Bilic this season, but also the worrying amount of injuries to crucial first-team players. The likes of Andre Ayew, Aaron Cresswell and Andy Carroll, to name a few, have picked up significant knocks, and have been joined in the last few weeks by the likes of Sam Byram and Gokhan Tore.
A number of those in the treatment room are nearing a return, and when asked Bilic insisted that it wasn't an excuse for their poor form but did have a significant factor.
He said: “I am not looking for excuses but definitely they are one of the reasons why we didn’t start as we wanted to and definitely we had injuries from the pre-season and a lot of them were long term."
Bilic concluded, “Now, a lot of the players are coming back and the injury list is not that big. Cresswell is already back and we are expecting a few of them to come back soon.”
West Ham United will take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, October 15 with kick-off at 5:30pm BST.