Reflecting on Saturday’s hard-fought 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace, a delighted Mark Noble described the Hammers’ display as “tremendous”.
Following a slow start to the season, a much rejuvenated West Ham side worked tirelessly to secure a deserved first away win of the campaign.
Noble, who as ever led by example, had particularly praise for his side’s defensive efforts: “I thought we were tremendous. They’ve got big players like Connor Wickham and Christian Benteke up front, but I thought our defence did a magnificent job, they dealt with them incredibly, it’s a top, top win for us.
“I said in an interview the other day that everyone here really does care, and I think we showed that. We looked at how Palace play and everything goes through Benteke so we knew we had to deal with that threat. Cheik is great in the air, then alongside Reidy and Angelo, obviously Cress back in the side, we played like a proper team.”
While the Hammers rode their luck somewhat as Benteke sent his penalty kick over the bar, Manuel Lanzini’s 19th minute opener was good enough to win any match.
The Argentine attacker made a darting run into the box to finish a fine flowing move, turning in Aaron Cresswell’s superb cross.
Recounting the goal, Noble beamed: “It was a great finish from Manu, to be fair it was a great move, I think we kept it for about 15 passes.
“We broke down the left, great ball in from Cress, that’s what he brings into the side, then obviously a great finish from Manu.
“We got a bit of good fortune with their penalty miss, but at the same time we could have had a penalty too. But at the end of the day, the three points is massive for us.”
Now with four points from the last two games, the captain is hoping his side can use this renewed momentum when they host Sunderland at London Stadium on Saturday 22 October.
Noble continued: “It’s going to be a tough game, they need the points too. By all accounts we’ve had a terrible start, but now we’re only a point behind Leicester who won the league last year.
“If we start to put a few wins together, we’ll start to climb the table and get to where we want to be.”