Henri Lansbury will be back in action for England Under-21s tonight against Israel in Barnsley fresh from a man of the match display in the 6-0 hammering of Azerbaijan.
Lansbury scored two and made two for Craig Dawson in the Vicarage Road romp last Friday, and afterwards spoke to whufc.com about his move to the Boleyn Ground. "I'm definitely happy at joining West Ham," he said. "It's a massive club and I'm happy to come over here and play for such a club."
Transfer deadline day saw a lot of late action and Henri admitted his move east from north London caught him by surprise. "Yeah it was a bit late when I found out but as soon as West Ham came in for me it was a definite yes on my part.
"West Ham are such a big club and having such a great manager and such great players here as well."
Last season Lansbury was on loan at Carrow Road and helped Norwich City achieve back to back promotions when the Canaries finished second behind Queens Park Rangers in the Championship, so he knows what it takes to win promotion.
"Yes it's a tough league," he added. "You have to be ready to go and play week in, week out. We've got the players to hopefully go and do that, just like Norwich had last year."
Lansbury is one of a number of big name signings that Sam Allardyce has made this summer, and is aware of the expectation on his shoulders.
"I think there's pressure on every player to be honest to play well every week. We need to play as a team and go out and do our best week in and week out as I've said."
Not only has Henri given up the chance of potentially playing in the Premier League with the Gunners, he has also passed up potential Champions League football. However, he said he had no reservations about dropping down a division.
"No I didn't have any reservations. The manager here asked me to come and play. So I spoke to the manager at Arsenal who told me I might not get the amount of football I wanted and I just wanted to go and play. West Ham have given me that chance to come and do just that."
The midfielder is relishing the prospect of lining up alongside Kevin Nolan, admitting he is well aware of his qualities from close quarters. "Kevin's a very experienced player and I look forward to playing with him. We've played against each other a few times and even had our arguments, but I look forward to playing with him and getting West Ham up the league."
It is a season long loan but what are the chances of it progressing beyond that?
"Well we'll have to see how it goes," said Lansbury, who is still prized at the Emirates as a key asset for the future. His main is to help the Hammers to promotion and then see where things stand in a year's time. For now, he is just eager to show the supporters what he can do.
"Hopefully they'll see my fighting spirit and I'll show them what I'm about and get us to the top of the league."