Lukasz Fabianski was brimming with pride after marking his 200th Premier League appearance with an outstanding performance in Thursday’s 2-1 victory at Southampton.
West Ham United’s Poland international goalkeeper was in inspirational form at St Mary’s Stadium, making a series of stunning saves to keep the Saints at bay and pave the way for the Irons’ fifth win in six matches.
Fabianski set the tone early, keeping out Nathan Redmond’s third-minute shot, before producing stupendous stops to deny Stuart Armstrong and Mario Lemina. Even when Southampton did find the net five minutes after half-time through Redmond’s scrambled finish, it was not before the No1 had kept out initial efforts from the goalscorer and Oriel Romeu.
I’m really happy that my 200th appearance in the Premier League went this way
Lukasz Fabianski
“I just felt good and, to be honest with you, in the back of my mind was that it was a special day for me because it was my 200th appearance in the Premier League, so I wanted to make it special and do my best to help the team in any situation possible.
“Luckily for me, we managed to win the game and I helped the team in some situations, so I’m really happy that my 200th appearance in the Premier League went this way.”
While Fabianski played a central role in West Ham’s come-from-behind win with his heroics, it was Felipe Anderson who secured a third away success in a row with two fine second-half goals.
“Felipe is a quality player,” the goalkeeper observed of his Brazilian teammate. “He has something special about him that, even tonight, in the moment where he didn’t even have a clear situation for the first goal, but he took a chance, he has a really good strike on him and he was able to get a goal and bring us back in the game.
“He’s a quality player, a quality finisher and all-round he is good! We are just very happy to have him because he is a very important player for us.
“But the whole group worked for the result. Felipe found himself in a good scoring situation and managed to put it away, but he wasn’t the only one who did well.
“Mikey (Michail Antonio) found out a few hours before the game he would be playing at right-back and he did a great job for us and gave a great assist.
“All the boys put a lot of effort into it and we’re just very happy that we got three points and, as a group, we can be very proud of ourselves.”
Alongside their work ethic, Fabianski says West Ham’s positive mindset, resilience and belief also played a big part in them turning the game around after Redmond’s goal.
“From the very start of the game, I thought we showed that we wanted to win the game. We knew that we were playing against a side who were on a good run since they changed their manager but you could see we were up for it right from the start.
“We were dangerous throughout the whole game and I am happy that we were able to get three points away from home. Even though we went one-nil down, we still managed to get back into the game quickly, which showed our character and was pleasing.”