Angelo Ogbonna believes West Ham manager David Moyes deserves all the credit for their turnaround in results.
When Hammers fans were last allowed in the London Stadium in February they saw a team floundering in the bottom three.
This Saturday, the 2,000 supporters who will be present for the visit of Manchester United will be watching a side fifth in the table following three straight wins.
Italian defender Ogbonna, who opened the scoring in Monday night’s 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, said: “The potential of the squad here has always been high, always.
“I want to give a big credit to the manager. Since he came in he changed a lot of things – discipline, hard work and you can see it on the pitch. He has a lot of credit on that one.
“We want to achieve what we can in the future, I don’t know what but if we perform we can get good results. Sometimes we can be lucky, sometimes not. I think if you change your mentality, something can happen positive.”
West Ham certainly rode their luck against Villa. Jack Grealish cancelled out Ogbonna’s second-minute header but they led again through Jarrod Bowen.
However, Ollie Watkins missed a penalty for Villa and had a last-gasp goal ruled out by VAR for offside even though it looked as though Ogbonna was fouling him.
“The game finished. I think it is their problem,” Ogbonna added. “The VAR decided that it was offside so we keep the offside and get three points and we look forward for the next game.
“We didn’t play very well but we escaped at the end and I think it is important for us to get three points.
“I am really happy with the goal but all the team wasn’t happy with the performance. Last season in this kind of game we could have lost – but we got the three points.”
Villa are due to host Newcastle on Friday night but the fixture could be in doubt following a reported coronavirus outbreak at St James’ Park.
However, Villa boss Dean Smith said: “We’ve not heard anything so we will be preparing as normal.”
