In three second-half minutes, Danny Ings showed the Hammers faithful exactly what he is about.
The England striker’s bread and butter is goals, and with just over 20 minutes to be played in West Ham United’s 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest, London Stadium became his stage.
A first Club goal on his full debut came in the 70th minute, when the new No18 started and finished a sweeping move, finding Jarrod Bowen with a diagonal ball before peeling off his marker and cleverly striking the winger's low cross past Keylor Navas.
His second followed within three minutes, too. It was a bit messy, but fox-in-the-box Ings was delighted to see his shinned touch from Saïd Benrahma's cross dribble over the line.
“I will take [the second goal] all day long,” he laughed, at a finish that hit Forest defender Renan Lodi on the way in. “It doesn’t matter how, as long it goes in the back of the net.
“I don’t know what to say about [the goals]. I have just thrown myself at them. When the ball is in the box, I just try to be in the best position. [The first goal] was an instinctive run, just gambling off Jarrod’s shot. In that position, I knew I had to stretch for it, so seeing it hit the net was a wonderful feeling.”
A brace on his first start, the first to achieve the feat since Forest substitute Jesse Lingard did likewise against Aston Villa in February 2021, will rightly see Ings take the plaudits. And yet, the 30-year-old was quick to share the praise around.
A fine long-range curling strike from skipper Declan Rice and a header from Michail Antonio – the substitute's first touch after replacing Ings – saw the Irons secure their biggest league win of the season, scoring four in a Premier League fixture for the first time since thumping Norwich City at Carrow Road in May last year.
It was the sort of result that will hopefully shift momentum, especially after West Ham had controlled the majority of the first 70 minutes without making the breakthrough, before erupting in the final 20.
The importance of the triumph, the Irons’ second in three home fixtures in 2023, cannot be understated then.
“At half-time, we said that we wanted to keep doing the same things, we were controlling the game, dominating the game,” Ings added, “it was just about being more ruthless and in the second half we did that.
“But I stayed persistent and as a team, I think we deserved to win and to get a reward with goals is brilliant as well. We dominated the game from start to finish.
“For me, it is just the start on a personal note. As a striker to score your first goal, it gives you a really solid foundation to kick on and try and build some momentum.
"But doesn’t matter who is scoring the goals whether it is me, Mick, Dec, Gianluca [Scamacca] or whoever, we’ve got the three points and we are moving forward as a team.
“We know how tough the Premier League is, so for us, it is about building momentum. There is no better way to do that than winning 4-0 at home, in front of our own fans.”
