1. Back to back wins!
After registering a home win in the Premier League for the first time since February last time out against Newcastle United, West Ham United knew they could end another unwanted run with victory over Burnley on Saturday.
And they did just that. Indeed, goals from Callum Wilson, Tomáš Souček and Kyle Walker-Peters helped seal a 3-2 triumph, that earned the Irons back-to-back top-flight successes for the first time since February, when they saw off Arsenal on the road and then Leicester City at London Stadium.
For the last time the Hammers won two home league games on the spin, you have to go back to October 2024, when we beat Ipswich Town 4-1 and then Manchester United 2-1 thanks to Jarrod Bowen’s late penalty.
Nuno Espírito Santo’s side have managed to get those monkeys off their back with two convincing wins in the last two weeks, banking a maximum six-point haul to draw level with 17th-place Burnley on ten points and head into the November international break with significant momentum.
The next challenge will be to extend the two-game winning streak, and register three Premier League successes in a row for the first time since December 2023, when we return to action away at Bournemouth, and then at home to Liverpool, after the two-week domestic hiatus.
2. Wilson haunts the Clarets again
If there was one man who Burnley may have been wary of before kick-off on Saturday afternoon, it could well have been Irons No9 Callum Wilson.
The England international went into the game boasting seven goals in 12 previous appearances against the Clarets. Indeed, he had only registered more Premier League goals against current Club West Ham (12) and Everton (8) than against Burnley, while he had scored six times in his last four starts against the Turf Moor side.
With the 33-year-old having also scored in five of his last seven starts against newly-promoted teams (five goals), it almost seemed written in the stars that he would net for the second time in Claret and Blue, and for the first time since our 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest in late August.
And, so it proved. After Zian Flemming had headed Burnley in front ten minutes before half-time, Wilson restored parity nine minutes later, when he reacted quickest to a blocked Crysencio Summerville shot.
That sparked the swing in momentum for the home side, with Souček and Walker-Peters going on to make sure of the result before Josh Cullen struck a late consolation for the Clarets.
3. Souček makes it two in two
Some things are never in doubt, and when Tomáš Souček got stripped and ready to come on near the touchline shortly after the hour, it seemed inevitable that he would go on to have a major impact on the game.
At that point, things were finely poised at 1-1, with both teams in need of a goal that could prove the spark to inspire a win.
Souček of course came on to notch his second goal of the season, and ultimately the winner, in the 3-1 success over Newcastle last time out, and it didn’t take long for him to make his presence known back at London Stadium six days later.
After a West Ham corner was only cleared as far as Lucas Paquetá, and his cross could only be parried by visiting goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka, our Czech No28 was the quickest to react, poking home to make it 2-1 before wheeling away and treating the crowd to his trademark celebration.
The goal marked Souček’s 44th on his 254th appearance for the Club, while it also means he is now the standalone sixth highest Premier League scorer for West Ham, with 38 from 202 games.
The Czechia captain will hope to carry such encouraging goalscoring form onto the international stage as he heads off to represent his country against San Marino and Gibraltar later this month.
4. Walker-Peters gets off the mark
There were plenty of smiling faces around London Stadium on Saturday, but perhaps the biggest belonged to Kyle Walker-Peters, who grabbed his first goal for West Ham United three minutes before the death.
The 28-year-old entered the fray as a late substitute for Crysencio Summerville with the score 2-1, seemingly to help shore up the defence and secure three important points.
But, on his eleventh appearance for the Club, Walker-Peters found himself in an unusually high position when Souček’s shot, after a marauding run forward, was pushed in his direction by away stopper Dúbravka.
Our summer arrival from Southampton beat Jarrod Bowen - who was looking to cap his 250th West Ham appearance with a goal - to the ball to tap in, putting the seal on the victory before Cullen’s consolation in injury time.
The strike marked only the eighth of Walker-Peters’ senior career, and the first since he netted for the Saints in a 4-2 win over Coventry City on the way to EFL Championship promotion in April 2024.
Incidentally, his last Premier League goal was back in August 2022, when he scored late on to help earn a 2-2 draw for Southampton at home to Leeds United.
