Pablo Fornals exclusive: West Ham midfielder on evolution of style this season, slow start to season and being a first-time dad | Football News

Not too long ago, David Moyes was creeping up the list towards the favourites as the next Premier League managerial sacking. Could two years of hard work, a Europa League semi-final and back-to-back top seven finishes unravel in a matter of weeks?

No, it turns out. The Hammers have since clawed their way into the top 10 with a comfortable 2-0 win over Bournemouth on Monday night, their fifth successive home victory. They have won three of their last five league games, after one of their previous seven.

Something has started to click at the London Stadium with smiles back on previously gloomy faces and an expensive summer of spending now beginning to bear fruit. There are signs of an evolution around east London, where the Hammers have over performed to achieve those consecutive finishes in the European places.

The aim is to stay there, but seven games into the new season and with one victory to their name, West Ham looked more likely to sack David Moyes than to reach the top seven again. Yes, the three wins since have come against sides they would normally expect to beat, in Wolves, Fulham and Bournemouth, but the style Moyes is looking to build has started to rear its head too.

The manager has built much of his success since his return around the raw attributes of Michail Antonio, the physical strength of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek in midfield and ultimately, West Ham’s ability to transition quickly on the break. But things are changing with the arrival of record signing Lucas Paqueta, a player more comfortable on the ball than running for it, and even ex-Swansea midfielder Flynn Downes, who started in the hole for Monday’s latest win.

Against Southampton earlier this month West Ham had 61 per cent of the ball, against in-form Bournemouth 55 per cent, and even 46 per cent at Anfield last week – only Manchester City have had more possession against Liverpool this season. This is not the West Ham of old, says Pablo Fornals, a man who has been there throughout their rise from relegation strugglers to European semi-finalists.

“I don’t think we’re playing like we played before,” he told Sky Sports. “Our football has improved a lot, our players are doing very well and it’s not like the West Ham who used to run a lot and be okay without the ball, we’ve stepped up and showed we can have the ball too. We see a lot more of the ball than we did in the past.

“I really liked how we played before, but it’s a bit different, I think it’s to do with the players we signed, they have a lot of quality and maybe we just have to evolve into a better team with them here.

“Everyone needed to settle in at the start of the season, there were the new players, the new style, a lot of small things that affected us from winning games and performing as well as we should.”

The Hammers’ more imposing game plan has tied in with an upturn in shot conversion – which before the win over Bournemouth was the third-worst in the league at just 6.1 per cent, less than half that of last season. As the confidence has slowly flowed back into the squad, their performances, results, and now their ability to find the back of the net have all unsurprisingly improved in sync.

Fornals was the man who scored their first goal of the season – which did not come until their fourth match – with a deflected long-range strike to beat Aston Villa. That was one of only three goals in their first seven games but with chances being made, just not finished, confidence remained in the Hammers camp.

He said: “We always try to work on scoring goals, that’s the desire of all the forward players to score goals for the team, but sometimes the ball doesn’t want to go into the net.

“Other times, I had the luck to score the first goal for the season, it got a deflection and went in so you never know how it’s going to go. But the more we try, the more chances we’ll make and that’s the important thing. We made a lot against Bournemouth, and we need to keep going like that.”

Fornals has been subbed in eight of his nine league starts this season, behind only Bryan Mbeumo and Adam Armstrong across the whole top fllight, before he found himself out of the starting line-up altogether against Bournemouth. Few players have shown such a positive work-rate and attitude since he arrived at the London Stadium in 2019, but as the Hammers look to establish themselves in the European places, competition has inevitably stepped up.

Any disappointment the Spain international feels is swallowed up when he gets home though, with the addition to his young family of a first-born son last November – and as any new parent will attest, it’s changed his perspective.

“It’s changed my life a lot, as you’d expect,” he said. “It’s beautiful to arrive at home and see someone waiting for you with a smile on their face, and it makes me realise that football, of course it’s important, but now you have someone who has been made by you and your wife, and family is what really matters the most.

“Everything has been challenging, it was all new for me! But it’s been a wonderful process to have this new little person who needs you so much, and you can’t even imagine how much you need them too. He’s not been to see us play yet, but he will.”

West Ham face Manchester United on Super Sunday this weekend, and though the Hammers face an uphill task at Old Trafford against a side in such good form at home, their own form, and their performance at Anfield, have bred an air of belief.

“We have to be the same as we were in Liverpool, we were very good in that game,” Fornals said. “Probably better in the second half than the first, but we challenged them and created chances.

“We’re going there to challenge Manchester United too. We did against Tottenham and got a draw, we did against Chelsea and should have got a draw, we’re going to try to beat everyone.

“I try to watch as many games as I can, which is less easy now I have a baby, but I know they’re doing very well and are also creating their own style – but we want to be where they are right now, and facing them will help that.”

Watch Man Utd vs West Ham live on Sky Sports Premier League on Sunday from 4pm; kick-off at 4.15pm.