Slaven Bilic adamant West Ham will avoid Premier League relegation
Friday 7 April 2017 23:40, UK
Slaven Bilic insists West Ham will stay up this season, but there will be no celebrations if they do.
Five straight defeats have dragged the Hammers to within five points of the relegation places, and that cushion will be cut further if Swansea win at the London Stadium on Saturday.
Even seven wins from their remaining games would leave West Ham eight points short of last season's 62 total that represented their best return of the Premier League era.
And Bilic knows his and the club's targets for the season - his second as manager - have not been met.
"I've seen bigger clubs in trouble and then when they stay up they celebrate like hell," he said
"The expectations were to make a big step up, but suddenly we are in a situation where we need points.
"The expectations were that it was going to go down in history as a great season, but it ain't. It's either going to go down as a negative season or just okay. But we're not going down."
And the Croat defended his players' attitudes, saying: "Of course they care. This is not a question of qualifying for
Europe or not qualifying for Europe, or whether or not we finish in the top 10. We care about those things, but this is far more serious.
"It's a very serious situation. It's not do or die but it's a serious situation. Do my players care as much as me? I think they do."
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