After a thumping 3-0 win over Hull City, the confidence and morale of the entire West Ham squad must be sky high. Zola was actually smiling during the post-match interview, looking very much a relieved man. And he should be, after all, West Ham have achieved their first back-to-back victory since the 2009/2010 season started. Looking clean shaven and relaxed for a change, he spoke about how confidence is finally flowing into the team and how the talismanic Alessandro Diamanti is so important to the Hammer's survival cause. Maybe Zola has found that Tevez-like personality in the livewire Italian.
Two successive wins at home have moved West Ham up to 13th place now and they are now four points away from the bottom three. This will ease the worries and consequently relieve the anxiety of the players as they approach Tuesday's match against the wounded Manchester United at Old Trafford. Regardless of the Red Devils troubles, they are still amazing at home and will want to keep pace with Chelsea.
Julien Faubert had an influential game with one assist and one goal: Picture from Associated Press
The Hammers were fantastic against Hull. Spurred on by the fans, the mentality to attack and throw everything at Hull was apparent. The early 3rd minute goal by Valon Behrami obviously helped to settle the nerves but we were playing the better football anyhow and looked more dangerous all the time. Although we only doubled our lead after Craig Fagan's dismissal, there was no denying that there was only one team in this.
Boaz Myhill as expected, put an excellent performance together to deny Behrami, Franco and Diamanti time and time again. Zola's use of a 4-4-2 formation with Diamanti on the left and Behrami on the right worked a treat and he should finally have found his best eleven in the team that played on the weekend.
It has been a good weekend. West Ham was the only team to have picked up three points among their relegation rivals. Bolton, Burnley, Portsmouth, Wolves, Sunderland, Hull and Wigan all lost at the weekend. Without a doubt, home matches will now determine West Ham's Premier League future but if we play as we did against Hull, there is no cause for concern and league safety is within our grasp.
Is it too early to dream? Can we cause a surprise on Tuesday at Old Trafford? With Diamanti, anything is possible!
Come On You Irons!
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