David Moyes names star ‘who made the difference’ as West Ham chalk up first Premier League win

David Moyes was full of praise for one West Ham star ‘who made a difference’ as the Hammers recorded their first Premier League win of the season at Aston Villa on Sunday.

Pablo Fornals’ deflected strike in the 74th minute gave the visitors victory at Villa Park in a much-improved second-half display from Moyes’ men.

Villa had a first-half goal disallowed with Lucas Digne’s corner having gone out of play before Ezri Konsa swept home. But 16 minutes from time, Fornals’ shot struck Konsa and looped over Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.

The win lifts West Ham off the foot of the table and up to 17th.

And speaking after the game, Moyes said: “It’s a great three points. The Premier League is tough at the moment. There’s very little between the teams, games are really tight and that’s the way it was today.

“We scored with a deflection but we were much better in the second which helped. Any win away from home is a really good result.

“We changed the formation which helped. Formations help but it’s the players’ attitude. They know we’ve been doing really well over the last couple of years and we want to continue that – we showed that willingness today.

Benrahma turned the game

“I thought Said [Benrahma] made a difference. He had a good pre-season but Said sometimes makes good decisions and sometimes doesn’t, which can frustrate me as a manager.

“But he came on and turned the game for us in many ways. We’re trying to piece together a new team but I thought it was the players who know how we’ve played in recent years that dug deep when we got the goal and helped us get the three points on the road which is really important.

“We’ve had a really good two-and-a-half years so any external voices should be talking about that.”

Hammers skipper Declan Rice also revealed his delight at the win, adding: “Relief, massive relief. Like I said last week, the expectations of this club now are that we can’t start a Premier League season losing three games.

“Especially with the squad that we have. You could sense it today, even in the warm-up, the way we were talking, we really wanted it today. We put our bodies on the line, ran more and we were more productive with the ball.”

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