West Ham defender Ben Johnson reveals mentality that will help Hammers beat Lyon in Europa League

West Ham defender Ben Johnson says the international break has come at a good time for the Hammers to rest up before returning for the final stretch of the season.

The Irons lost 3-1 to Tottenham, a defeat that left their Champions League ambitions hanging by a thread having dropped to seventh in the league table.

The defeat in north London came just three days after the Hammers put up a brilliant performance to see off six-times winners Sevilla in the Europa League to set up a date with Lyon.

West Ham have improved massively since the arrival of David Moyes and have gone from worrying about relegation to a true top six side side, even though their run is being tested now with a limited squad and games coming in thick and fast.

There are some who believe that their squad is too thin and they will eventually suffer from not investing and adding more numbers in the January transfer window.

The defeat to Tottenham certainly highlighted the need for options with Michail Antonio looking increasingly overworked.

The season-ending injury to defender Angelo Ogbonna has left them short at the back too, while fast-paced forward Jarrod Bowen has missed the last three games and there are concerns that he might not be ready for the first leg of the game against Lyon.

Despite the dwindling numbers and the dip in league form, young defender Ben Johnson who has been a revelation since making his debut says the international break couldn’t have come at the right time and they would be ready for the final push to achieve their goals.

The young English defender said: “We’ve had how many games, seven or eight games in March, well from the end of February to March so it’s been a gruelling time and we’ve done extremely well in 95% of the games.

“And even against Tottenham there were positives to take out of the game despite the defeat so It’s something that the boys will be proud of.

“Some of the work we’ve done this month has been immense and now hopefully we can just recharge and go into the last eight or nine games just firing and feeling fresh to end the season well.”

The Irons will hope for an atmosphere like the one they had against Sevilla, when almost 60,000 fans crammed into the London Stadium.

The supporters became the 12th man and pushed the team on until the final minutes when Andriy Yarmolenko scored the all important goal to send them through.