LONDON, Dec 14 — West Ham United’s remarkable rise from mid-table mediocrity to potential top four challengers is down to a change in mindset in the squad, with the club now focused on catching up with the title contenders, manager David Moyes said today.

Moyes, who dragged West Ham from the brink of relegation in 2019-20 to a club record points total last season, has guided the team to fourth place with 28 points after 16 games this campaign.

He has overseen league victories over Liverpool and Chelsea while they knocked out Manchester United and holders Manchester City in the League Cup. They next play away at sixth-placed Arsenal in the league tomorrow.

"We’re in a great position where we’re going into the game ahead of Arsenal. We finished ahead of them last season which was a big achievement,” Moyes told reporters.

"We’re a little bit of the club which other teams are trying to catch and challenge at the moment, so I’m saying ‘bring it on’ — we’ll take it on and see how we get on. We feel as if we can play against any team.

"It’s huge, we’re in a strong position and will try to stay there as long as we can. We’re not looking back — we’re trying to see if we can catch the teams above us, but we’re well aware of the strength of the teams above us.”

Since their return to the top flight in 2012, West Ham have never finished higher than last season’s sixth place, finishing in the bottom half of the table six times.

West Ham also advanced to the last 16 of the Europa League, sealing qualification with a game to spare.

"A mindset change has been a big part. We’ve wanted to try and be organised against teams who are good with the ball and used to winning,” Moyes added.

"We’re still in the process of trying to build a squad and team that can be competitive. At the moment, we’re a little bit ahead of schedule of where we should be, but now we’re here we’re not going to give it up.

"We’re going to keep pushing... There are other teams coming to us now who are making it harder to score against — that’s part of becoming a big team, other teams will try hard to stop you.” — Reuters