David Moyes chuffed his 'ginger nut' nickname has been replaced by 'The Moyesiah' as West Ham push for a Champions League place... but boss admits Declan Rice and Michail Antonio injury blows will force him to be 'creative' during crunch run-in

  • West Ham take on Leicester on Sunday in crucial game for their top four hopes
  • Hammers are unexpectedly in the mix for Champions League qualification
  • But likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton are in hot pursuit
  • Their excellent season has caused West Ham fans to call boss 'The Moyesiah'
  • Scottish manager admits it's far better than his old moniker of 'ginger nut' 

David Moyes expressed relief his nickname has changed from 'ginger nut' to 'The Moyesiah' as West Ham continue their bid to reach the Champions League.

The in-form Hammers sit fourth in the table ahead of another pivotal weekend but have Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton breathing down their neck in the top four race.

West Ham host Leicester City on Sunday afternoon and the 57-year-old Scottish manager was asked if he was aware of his new moniker.

West Ham manager David Moyes is pleased his nickname has changed from 'ginger nut' to 'The Moyesiah' as the Hammers push for Champions League qualification

West Ham manager David Moyes is pleased his nickname has changed from 'ginger nut' to 'The Moyesiah' as the Hammers push for Champions League qualification

Moyes celebrates with Jesse Lingard after West Ham's 3-2 win at Wolves last Monday night

Moyes celebrates with Jesse Lingard after West Ham's 3-2 win at Wolves last Monday night

'I thought you were going to say ginger nut! It's certainly not ginger nut now, it's more grey.


'But if there are nicknames going around, I've had a lot of bad ones in my time, so I'm quite happy to take that if that's what I've been given.'

'The Moyesiah' admitted he will need to be 'creative' to keep West Ham's Champions League dream alive after injuries robbed him of two key players in Declan Rice and Michail Antonio.

But the Hammers boss has not been afraid to experiment this season, with varying degrees of success.

Left-back Aaron Cresswell has thrived as a third centre-half, right-back Ryan Fredericks has played in midfield, Mark Noble was tried as a No 10 and wingers Jarrod Bowen and Andriy Yarmolenko have led the attack.

The injury to key midfielder Declan Rice (right) comes as a major blow to West Ham

The injury to key midfielder Declan Rice (right) comes as a major blow to West Ham

Explosive forward Michail Antonio is also set for a spell on the sidelines ahead of the run-in

Explosive forward Michail Antonio is also set for a spell on the sidelines ahead of the run-in

Now Moyes must come up with a formula to beat Leicester, and move to within a point of the third-placed Foxes, at the London Stadium on Sunday.

'We were always aware that we could run into a situation like this,' said Moyes.

'Up until now it has worked very well, we've been in a good position with it. We'll try and keep it going. We will have to look to see how it works.

'There's a lot of talk of playing with false nines nowadays. Manchester City, probably the team who can most afford to do it, chose to play with false nines and it's not done them too much damage.

'We need to be a bit creative. I had a situation at Everton where we didn't have any forwards and we messed around with Tim Cahill as a centre-forward for a while.

'It can happen during a season, you can lose your forwards or defenders but hopefully we'll have enough options to keep everybody guessing about how we're going to play.'

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