West Ham need to drop egos and work as team, says Bilic

LONDON - West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has called on his players to drop their egos and work as one in order to end their woeful run of five consecutive Premier League defeats when they host relegation-threatened Swansea City on Saturday.

West Ham's worrying run of form threatens to drag the club into the bottom three as they sit 15th in the table, five points above the relegation zone with seven games remaining. A loss to Swansea would see that gap cut to just two points.

"We have to leave our egos in our beds and be as one," Bilic told British media. "I am not saying we weren't before -- but now more than ever. We have to put everything we have on the line."

West Ham left Upton Park, their home for 112 years, to move to the London Stadium this season but their switch is yet to yield dividends as the club have had to deal with fan unrest and crowd trouble during the current campaign.

The club have also struggled to recreate the menacing atmosphere of Upton Park but Bilic was confident West Ham will reap the long-term benefits of the switch.

"The move always had a lot of positives but it also had negative things, especially short-term. One of those negative things is the time -- you need time to adjust. That goes with a new stadium," he added. "In the long term it is the best thing that the club has ever done. Make no mistake about it." -Reuters