West Ham defender Ryan Fredericks has said that his side must not respect Manchester United like they did Chelsea when they face off against the Red Devils in the Premier League on Saturday.
The Hammers were outplayed by the Blues on Monday in a League encounter and went on to lose the game 2-0 after Eden Hazard bagged a brace. West Ham’s defeat against Maurizio Sarri’s side means that they have lost their last two successive League games after they also lost against Everton late last month.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side have not won during their past several away games and have also lost four out of their past six games without scoring a goal as reported by The Daily Star.
The East Londoners will be looking to bounce back strongly against United in their upcoming fixture. They face a tough run of fixtures with clashes against Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur coming up after their clash against Ole Gunnar Solsksjaer’s side.
With 42 points after 33 games this season, the Hammers are probably safe from relegation. However, if they do not improve sooner rather than later, they could stand to finish disappointingly on the bottom half of the standings. They are currently in 11th position on the top-flight table and will be aiming for nothing less than a finish on the top half of the table.
Fredericks has admitted that his side need to change their strategy and start believing in themselves again as they prepare to face off against United.
“We’ve got good enough players in our team to not come to these places and just sit back and try to stop them from scoring, he said as reported by The Daily Star.
“We need to be taking the game to whoever we are playing, and we showed that in the second half. There were points in the second half where I felt like we were getting on top.”