Mark Noble was a proud West Ham United captain after marking his 300th Premier League appearance with the opening goal in Saturday’s 3-0 Premier League win at Stoke City.
The Hammers overcame the distraction of an hour-long delay due to a power cut at the bet365 Stadium to produce an electric performance in the Potteries.
After Noble had set David Moyes’ side on their way with a first-half penalty, the visitors created and missed a succession of chances to put the game out of sight before former Stoke star Marko Arnautovic and substitute Diafra Sakho did just that late on.
Having now taken seven points from games with Chelsea, Arsenal and Stoke without conceding a single goal and climbed out of the relegation zone, the skipper was all smiles.
Our fans were fantastic and we’ve given them that belief now that they’re going to come and watch us and we’re going to get a result
Mark Noble
“It was a good performance, all in all, and we’ve kept three clean sheets in a week, which is some achievement, especially with the opposition we’ve played against,” he said.
“Stoke away is a tough place to come and then we had an hour-long delay. We sat in the changing room all ready to go out, then we had to start our preparations again.
“It was obviously nice to get on the scoresheet in my 300th Premier League game. I had slightly twinged my hamstring against Arsenal. We played three games in a week and really dug in and I think it was a little bit too much for my right hamstring!
After leading from the front against Chelsea and Arsenal, Noble again took the responsibility on his shoulders when Manuel Lanzini was fouled by Erik Pieters, ignoring a hostile home crowd to send Jack Butland the wrong way to net his 49th goal in Claret and Blue – a fitting way to mark his landmark appearance.
“I don’t think I’ll really appreciate it until I finish playing. This was my 300th Premier League appearance and it’s unbelievable. I can remember my first game for West Ham, playing for the reserves when I was 14…
“To make 300 Premier League appearances is just fantastic and it was nice to get on the scoresheet as well. I planned it by turning them around before kick-off, even though I got booed by their fans at the time!”
While the Stoke supporters were first frustrated and then departed early in their droves, the Claret and Blue Army were rewarded for waiting an extra hour in the cold and rain with a first away win of the Premier League season and a biggest win on the road since Boxing Day last year.
“Our fans were fantastic and we’ve given them that belief now that they’re going to come and watch us and we’re going to get a result. The support they gave Arthur, Arnie and the boys was great and we thank them for that.
“Marko hit the bar twice and finally he managed to score one, then Diaf, we all know that when he is in that position, he hardly ever misses.
“It was a great day for all of us. The whole squad played their part. But we can’t dwell on it as we’ve got a massive game on Tuesday night [at Arsenal in the Carabao Cup] and another massive game at home to Newcastle, so we just need to keep being resilient, keep scoring goals and keep winning football matches.”