West Ham boss hoping that two-week break will allow injured players to return

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce revealed that he could not wait for the international break to come, so that he could get some players back into his ever-depleting squad.

The Hammers travel to Hull City on Saturday hoping to bounce back from their goalless draw against Bristol City on Tuesday night, and Allardyce is welcoming the two-week break that follows with open arms.

“We will be looking forward very much to the international break,” he said.

“It will be well received, but what we have got to do now is keep our run of results going and come away with points at Hull City, which will be a very difficult game based on the form that they are in.

“And also the numerous injuries we have got to cope with at the moment.”

The Hammers head into the game having collected seven points from the last available nine and Allardyce is confident that if his side perform as well as they did on Tuesday night then they will come away from the KC Stadium with three valuable points.

“If the lads can lift and perform like they did (against Bristol City), I think they’ll win there,” he said.

“Then if we get a result, we can look at the two-week international break and try and resolve our problems by getting some of the players who are injured fit again.”

Despite dropping two points on Tuesday night, West Ham remain in second place in the league table, something that Allardyce is quick to point out.

“We’ve just got to get ready for Hull City now and look forward to that because we are in great form,” he said.

“We are getting results, and we are hitting the position in the league where we want to be.”

League leaders Southampton are now five points clear of the Hammers following their 2-1 win against 10-man Peterborough on Tuesday, but Allardyce is not too concerned.

“There is always concern, but for me we have been through our most difficult period,” he said.

“We are frustrated that we lost two points on Southampton yes, but at the end of the day it will swing and turn so many times between now and the end of the season.

“The league is never won in the middle of November, it is only won in the back end of April.

“I would prefer to be first if the truth be known, but Southampton’s home form is going to be very difficult to catch if they continue as they are, because they just keep winning, they don’t even drop points.

“But we are not too far away.”