West Ham must stand up and be counted to conquer greatest challenge the club has faced under David Moyes

West Ham have cleared countless hurdles to reach this historic point, but now they may be facing their greatest one yet under David Moyes.

The Hammers will be fielding an almost entirely second-choice back-four in tonight’s quarter-final second leg against Lyon.

Kurt Zoumais injured and could be out for the season, while Aaron Cresswell is suspended following a controversial red card in last week’s first leg. Those two join long-term absentee Angelo Ogbonna in only being able to watch on as West Ham bid to make history.

What was already a difficult task for a squad new to these occasions has become an even greater challenge in the space of a week.

West Ham have already done remarkable things this season. The Hammers stormed their group, remain in a fight for the Premier League’s top six, and knocked Sevilla, the kings of the Europa League, out in the last round.

Now they face a second leg at another established European side. The pressure of these occasions is something to relish rather than fear, but Moyes does not want his players to treat it as a novelty. The Scot has transformed the mentality in his squad but is now tasking his players to go a step further.

If West Ham are to progress to the semi-finals, where either Barcelona or Eintracht Frankfurt await, their key figures must stand up and be counted.

“We have a great chance,” said Moyes. “To be at 1-1 is a really powerful position. We’ve got a wee bit of toughness about us we can show. We played 45 minutes with 10 men last week, let’s see what we can do with 11.

“We have to show our levels of quality, they need to rise. We’ve probably showed our best qualities in this tournament, against Sevilla especially. So we have to do that. It’s a big game and tough game,