Alphonse Areola insists the entire West Ham United team deserved praise and credit for the side’s impressive 2-0 win away at Arsenal.
The Hammers ended 2023 in style on Thursday evening, as Tomáš Souček and Konstantinos Mavropanos scored in each half to put the Irons in firm control at the Emirates Stadium. A late Saïd Benrahma penalty could have been the cherry on the cake, only for David Raya to make a smart save in the closing moments.
Nonetheless there were plenty of reasons to cheer and celebrate at the full-time whistle, as the Irons concluded a December that saw wins against the Gunners, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, earn a third consecutive Premier League win and a sixth league victory in eight matches.
There were plaudits being passed around by pundits for the goalscorers, for Angelo Ogbonna’s efforts in defence, as well as for Areola himself for keeping a deserved clean-sheet, but the Frenchman is adamant that every player deserved recognition for his part in the win.
“I think we were compact and we worked really hard for each other,” Areola said. “Everyone out there on the pitch was just giving everything. We won against Manchester United and I think we kept that momentum going. I hope we can keep it for the coming games too. It was great to win here against a difficult team like Arsenal.
“We can see in every game they play that Arsenal will have a lot of opportunities to score goals. We knew we had to work very hard and we had to stay compact. Everyone – all the defenders, all the midfielders and the attackers – they all did their jobs and they helped me to keep this clean-sheet. They deserve just as much credit as I do.”
An impressive run of form has put West Ham back into sixth in the table and, with 33 points, the team has achieved the highest points tally for the Club ever at the halfway point of a Premier League season.
For Areola, the sky is the limit for this Hammers side. With a UEFA Europa Conference League trophy won in 2023, there is no reason more success should not follow in 2024.
“When you play, you want to achieve as much as you can. We want to stay humble, keep working hard and achieve what we can.
“We have won big games and we want to enjoy those, and keep it going. We want to keep working hard every day and keep doing this.”
