David Moyes has told Said Benrahma to be patient as he searches for his first West Ham goal.

Benrahma scored 17 times for Brentford in the Championship last season but has yet to get off the mark since his £30million switch from west to east London.

The 25-year-old Algerian’s eagerness to break his duck was evident when he sent a couple of long-range efforts over the crossbar against Leeds on Monday.

“First of all he has got to stop hitting them over the bar, he’s got to start getting them under the crossbar,” said Hammers boss Moyes.

“That is the job. We bought him with goals and assists in mind but he is new to the Premier League, he has to get used to it.

“Not everybody is going to hit the ground running, some come in quickly and some don’t. Said is still learning, still picking bits up, but we like him a lot and we think he has got more to come.

“He has just got to stay steady, he has been taking on shots which aren’t at the right time to do so. I think he just needs to calm down a bit and let it come to him rather than going and looking for it so much.”

With Jesse Lingard unable to face his parent club Manchester United on Sunday it will fall to Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen, who has scored only once since November, to provide West Ham’s attacking impetus.

“Jarrod has come in and given us goals,” added Moyes. “The reason we got Jarrod was because he scored 15 goals a season at Hull and we thought we could get some of that for us.

“He’s found that tougher in recent games, over the last month or two, but we’re not trying to put too much pressure on him because he’s done well for us.”