Pablo Fornals says West Ham are enjoying proving the cynics wrong and will keep fighting for a top-four finish.
The Hammers secured a memorable 3-2 win over Liverpool on Sunday to go above the Reds, champions two seasons ago, and into third place.
“It is massive for us,” said Spanish midfielder Fornals. “We never thought at the beginning of the season that we were going to be in this moment right now, but we are really happy and obviously we worked for that.
“This is what we did last season and it’s what we are doing this season.
“To be fair I don’t care what other people think, I am really proud to be in this team and this group with these fighters. For me that’s the only important thing.”
West Ham finished sixth last season but their hopes of a Champions League spot were dashed by not beating one of the so-called ‘big six’.
This term they have already beaten Tottenham, knocked both Manchester clubs out of the Carabao Cup and now toppled Liverpool.
“What’s changed? I don’t know. Last season we played really well against all of them as well,” added Fornals. “We just are trying to keep in the same line as we did.
“Obviously it is a game that in a big percentage of the games we have played against them this isn’t the result, but the important one was Sunday and we did it.”
Fornals played a huge role in West Ham’s victory, providing the corner that Liverpool keeper Alisson palmed into his own net and adding the second goal after Trent Alexander-Arnold had equalised with a free-kick.
Kurt Zouma headed West Ham into a 3-1 lead before Reds sub Divock Origi pulled one back.
“We never played the football we wanted to and didn’t get the result we wanted to so it’s frustrating,” Alexander-Arnold told LFCTV.
“We’re disappointed in ourselves. We came here with a game plan but we never executed it at all.
“We played into their hands a lot, especially in the second half. We got sucked into their game, allowed them to use set-pieces, counter-attacks, that’s exactly what they want to do.
“We didn’t do what we needed to do to win the game.”
