Ten Hag hopes to see winning attitude

The boss is keen to follow up Thursday night’s thrilling victory at Wolves with another success to reward our unwavering home support, as the Reds return to Old Trafford for the first time in three weeks.

Another tough test awaits against the Hammers, with just one point separating the teams in the table.

Ahead of the 14:00 GMT kick-off, watch and read the manager’s pre-match interview with club media…

How are you feeling reflecting on the Wolves game?
“Yeah, we were, of course, very pleased with the win. It was a match with many stories and we are pleased with our levels - in the first hour, I would say, especially the first 45 minutes. But after that, we should have killed the game and we didn’t. We let them return but then the team showed character and got the win, so I’m happy for our fans. I would say it was a thriller, I think. For the neutral spectator, it was also very nice to watch this game. But for a manager, it gives some headaches.”

We saw the celebrations from the squad after the game. What’s the feeling like when you’ve seen the whole team come into the training ground and how important is it to keep that mentality ahead of this weekend’s game?
“Definitely important and always mentality decides football games. The mentality must be right and I think especially on Sunday, it’s a tough game. The attitude makes a difference so we have to make sure that we have that winning attitude to win the game on Sunday.”

It will have been three weeks since we’ve been at the Theatre of Dreams when we face West Ham. Are you looking forward to being back at home and hopefully keeping the momentum from the Wolves win going into this one?
“Yeah, sure. We want to give the home fans the win but we have to go to our max because this is a strong side we face and they defend very well, well organised and in attack they are very unpredictable. So you need to focus 100 per cent over 90 minutes.”

We have been delighted to see lots of squad members coming back from injury. How’s the rest of the squad doing?
“That is pleasing and you need a strong squad. Especially you need all the positions filled in. We struggled in the first half of the season a lot with injuries. We always set out to be creative, to put out a team what is strong that can match the standards of Manchester United. In this moment, we have a team that is fit, not 100 per cent top fit but the team and the individuals have to grow to those levels and therefore we have to work very hard.”

West Ham drew against Bournemouth on Thursday night and they said afterwards they have lots to improve ahead of our clash. Does it make a team more dangerous when they have a point to prove?

“Yes but it’s always about us. I always have a lot of respect and I already mentioned the qualities, the positives from West Ham United. But it’s about us - where we deliver our standards, when we bring it on the pitch, when we play as a team, then we will win the game no matter what. So it’s all about us, they take responsibility as a team to win the game because the fans need the win and we need the three points.”

There is only one position in the table that divides both teams this weekend and, with it being so tight in the table, we know every game is crucial but there’s a great opportunity here to go higher in the table, isn’t there?

“It is, it will not be decisive for the end of the season but in the Premier League, [there are] seven or eight teams competing for those four [Champions League] positions so we can’t give points away. You need every point and you have to fight for every point because the points will be more expensive when you go to the end of the season, so we have to make sure, to put us in the right position in the month of February, we have to win on Sunday.”