Jesse Lingard hailed West Ham United’s hard work as they held off a Wolverhampton Wanderers fightback to triumph 3-2 at Molineux on Monday night.
Lingard was at the heart of everything the Hammers did on a freezing night in the Midlands, scoring the game’s opening goal with six minutes on the clock, befote having strong hands in those which followed for Pablo Fornals and Jarrod Bowen.
It wasn’t only the eye-catching side of the game that Lingard contributed to though, no player ran further than his 12.7km on the night, and West Ham as a collective ran 119km, seven more than their hosts.
That physical power was a key factor behind the three points, according to Lingard, as they recovered from the blow of seeing Leander Dendoncker and Fábio Silva eat into their lead to get over the line.
“It was a tough game and we had to work hard for the three points,” the No11 said. “We kept at it – it could have been another Arsenal situation conceding before half-time, but the lads kept their focus and concentration throughout the 90 minutes.
“It was just a lack of concentration at the end of the first half, but we came out in the second half a little bit better. They dominated most of the play but it was about us managing the game.
“There’s always room to improve. It’s a great victory but there are things to take from this game, positive and negative, and we’ll learn from that.”
Lingard’s opener, his sixth goal in eight games as a Hammer, was breath-taking, as he glided with possession from the halfway line to the penalty area, before dinking over Rui Patricio, but he was quick to credit Michail Antonio’s work off the ball to create the opening for him.
“Michail’s run was perfect,” he added. “It was two-v-two and we work on things like that in training. He took a defender away and I saw a clear gap to go into with just me and the goalkeeper left.
“It’s just consistency behind my form I think. Obviously I hadn’t played much for the past two years, so to be playing week-in, week-out and keeping up this form is great, but the team have helped me tremendously.”
The three points took West Ham back into the Premier League’s top four with eight games to go and Lingard says the team will be giving everything to keep their challenge going.
“We need to maintain our focus in each game,” he explained. “We’ve got a tough run of fixtures but the lads are ready and we’ll prepare for the next game.”
