West Ham United finally secured their first home Premier League success of the season with a resounding 4-1 victory over newly-promoted Ipswich Town.
Following an unwanted hat-trick of league defeats at London Stadium that had resulted in the Hammers worst-ever start to a campaign this welcome win came as a huge relief to Julen Lopetegui.
“We are very happy because this is what we have been working for," smiled the head coach after seeing his side plough the Tractor Boys into the ground on the green, green grass of home.
“Remember our first three matches were against Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea, who are all difficult teams to beat.
“I’m very pleased that the fans have now seen their team win here in the Premier League.”
Having conceded in the first minute at Brentford seven days earlier, West Ham got off to a flyer themselves with Michail Antonio slotting them ahead inside the opening 60 seconds.
The Hammers striker’s first goal of the campaign was quickly wiped out by Liam Delap, though, to leave the long-suffering Hammers faithful fearing another long afternoon of frustration.
“Although we had started well, we then conceded from their first corner and we must do much better than that,” added Lopetegui.
“Thankfully, we showed a strong mentality after that bad moment and that’s going to be really important to be like that throughout this season.
“Afterwards, our defensive work was good and we showed that we can score more goals, too.”
Indeed, with Mohammed Kudus also opening his account for 2024/25 thanks to a close-range header just before the break, the Hammers then simply overwhelmed the naïve visitors whose indecisive, disastrous defensive display saw the game run away from them in the second half.
After being dropped by England’s interim boss Lee Carsley for the upcoming Nations League ties with Greece and Finland, Jarrod Bowen extended his side’s lead just after the restart with his third goal of the campaign.
And the spirited skipper then invited Lucas Paquetá to double his tally for the season and cement victory 20 minutes from time.
“The best possible way for Jarrod to show his disappointment is to play well for West Ham - he is always ready to help the team work hard and that's why he's a very good player,” said Lopetegui.
The Hammers do not now return to action until Saturday October 19, when they travel across town to Tottenham Hotspur for a 12.30pm kick-off .
“Today, we have shown that each player can score but this match wasn’t just about their goals because the whole team played very well," added Lopetegui.
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