West Ham boss David Moyes has said finishing in the top four of the Premier League “is a possibility” for his side this season.
The Hammers, who are currently sixth, have not finished in the top four since 1985-86.
“A top-10 position would be excellent for West Ham considering where we were – but we’re much higher up now, so I’m looking up,” Moyes told Football Focus.
“I don’t see why we can’t be around those [top four] positions.”
West Ham, who are set to face Leeds at London Stadium on Monday, have won 13 league games this season – three more than they managed in the 2019-20 campaign.
“We wanted to get away from the West Ham where you weren’t sure which West Ham was going to turn up – were you going to get a disappointing result against a team you shouldn’t, or win when you probably weren’t expecting to?” said Moyes.
He added: “The players have changed my mentality because now I’m looking up to see how high I can get – I have to praise the players for that.”
The former Everton and Manchester United boss recognises results are in stark contrast to this time last season, but thinks there is more to come from his side.
“I hope with West Ham we can build a really exciting young team – that would be my big hope for us now. This time last year we were talking about do you think you can avoid relegation, can you stay out of the bottom three?
“People are asking different questions now – do you think you can finish top four or qualify for Europe? It shows you how far we’ve come,” said Moyes.
The Scottish manager, who returned to West Ham in 2019 after being let go in 2018 after less than a year in charge, says that things feel different this time around.
“I’m glad to be back. The first time round I really enjoyed myself and I was disappointed when I wasn’t asked to stay on because I thought we’d done a good enough job to remain in the position.
“I admired the owners for coming back for me and realising the job we had done in the first place was a good one,” he said.
Moyes guided West Ham to a 13th-place finish in the 2017-18 season, despite the club being in the relegation zone when he joined in November.
“We’re in a sad world of football management at the moment where changing managers very quickly does happen.
“Managers continually have to prove themselves all of the time. Whatever you’ve got in the bag – experience, cups, medals – I don’t know if that counts for an awful lot,” Moyes added.