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Southampton manager Ruben Selles and West Ham boss David Moyes say they aren’t thinking of the points they need to stay in the Premier League.
The pair are preparing to face each other in their relegation six-pointer match on Sunday at the London Stadium.
Ruben Selles’ side are bottom of the table with 23 points while David Moyes’ team sit in 18th with 24 points and two games in hand.
“To be honest, I don’t think about points,” Selles told reporters.
“And I don’t think in the long term, as that has been the approach before.
“I know everybody’s looking if you win one game that you get out of the bottom position, or if you lose the game they will go four points [clear]. I don’t really think about that. Every game is a big game. It is a massive game for us and every game has been like that.
“But we have a lot more things to do than spend our energy thinking about points, relegation or what [the table] is going to be in two months.”
Selles, 39, was named manager until the end of the season after the sacking of Nathan Jones.
He’s managed eight games – winning two, losing three and drawing three – most recently, a 3-3 comeback against Tottenham before the international break, which proved to be the final game of Antonio Conte’s tenure.
“The whole club believes we will stay up because we will put so much work into it in the next few weeks,” Selles added.
“We are alive and we are going to fight for every point in the rest of the season. Hopefully, we will stay in the Premier League and hopefully we won’t have to wait until the last game to confirm that. I can say for sure that we will prepare for every single game coming.”
West Ham, meanwhile, have failed to win a match in the Premier League since 25 February – a 4-0 victory against Nottingham Forest – but Moyes, 59, believes they won’t be one of the three teams that goes down at the end of the season.
“I’ve not worked out the points but I’m looking to see that there’s nine or 10 teams who could be involved in the bottom end of the table,” he said.
“We are one of them, unfortunately. We hoped that we wouldn’t be, but we are. We have to find a way of making sure that we’re safe come the end of the season and I’m sure we will be.”
West Ham’s domestic form pales in comparison to their performances in Europe, with the team reaching the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League with 10 straight wins.
“Our results in Europe have been really, really good – 10 matches unbeaten, and that’s kept us going a little bit, kept the belief,” continued Moyes.
“We’re certainly not acting behind the scenes like we are a team in the wrong part of the league. I see the players around the club in good spirits and that’s partly because of our results in Europe.”
