West Ham's young defender Ben Johnson has said Champions League football is something the club are aspiring to after a fantastic start to the season.
Following their thrilling 3-2 win over Liverpool, the Hammers moved into third spot in the league and a win on Saturday against Wolves would see David Moyes' team move into second place, for 24 hours at least.
Moyes has told his players there is no reason they should not be challenging for a top-four spot this season or entry into the Champions League via a Europa League triumph and it seems the message has got through to the squad.
"It would be an amazing achievement to be able to finish in the top four and that is something we are aspiring to do," Johnson told the Premier League show The Headline Makers. "I don't think we are hiding the fact that we have a strong side this season and we are going to give everything to achieve that."
Johnson is one of a number of West Ham players competing in their first European campaign but despite the lack of experience, the defender believes Champions League football is achievable for the club.
The Hammers squad boasts a Champions League winner in Kurt Zouma and with the likes of Alphonse Areola, Angelo Ogbonna, Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal, Nikola Vlasic and Andriy Yarmolenko there is plenty of experience in Europe's top competition at the club.
Johnson claims having teammates with such a wealth of experience would hold the club in good stead should they pull off the incredible achievement of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in West Ham's history. However, it is doing it for the supporters that Johnson claims is the real motivation for the team.
"I think it would be more for the fans because we have got players in the dressing room who have played in the Champions League and understand what it is like," Johnson added.
"But our fans have never experienced that, of course individually we want to play in it, but also for the fans and for what West Ham represents and how far we have come as a club."
There are two routes open to West Ham for a way into the Champions League, finish in the top four of the Premier League or win the Europa League. Both competitions are only in their infancy but Moyes has led his team to a fantastic start in the opening months of the campaign.
With passage already secured to the knockout stages of the Europa League the manager's first aim of the season, to be in Europe post-Christmas, has already been ticked off and few would bet against him achieving more of his lofty goals.
