Pablo Fornals considers West Ham United can take lots of confidence from their performance off to Liverpool, despite suffering a late 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Premier League leaders.
A second-half substitute, Fornals fired the Irons to the lead at Anfield on Monday night with a well-placed first-time attempt, after Issa Diop’s header had cancelled out Georginio Wijnaldum’s opener from the first-half.
Finally Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane would hit to give Liverpool the triumph, but Fornals feels that the Hammers played a positive, fighting match against the Reds.
“I think that it’s not easy to arrive at the club that’s first in the Premier League and struggle on this open pitch, but we did it,” Fornals told West Ham TV. “We fought an awesome game, but they won the game, which is what matters.
“It is not easy here. They have not lost a match this year in the Premier League, so the only thing we can do is try. It was great for us to try and take our minutes, and compete against this team.”
Having been released on 47 minutes in place of the injured Tomas Soucek, Fornals struck only a few moments later to send the travelling West Ham fans crazy, turning home a Declan Rice into the far corner.
The playmaker celebrated his third goal of the season in all competitions in the front of the away support, stating that this was his way of thanking the Irons fans for their awesome support of him during his inaugural effort in Claret and Blue.
The 24-year-old affirmed:”When I scored, I wanted to go to our lovers. Each and every day, they encourage me. They want me to constantly play and I wish to pay that back with goals and excellent performances. That is how I could say’Thank you’. It is amazing to look at my social media and see how the fans encourage me.
“Thank you to our fans, who never ceased. We want them every time and it’s because of them we’ve belief.”
With eleven games left for West Ham in the Premier League, Fornals understands everyone connected with the Club should stay united in order to see off the threat of relegation.
The Spaniard is convinced, however, that the Irons have the ability and ability to do precisely that.
“We are all in this,” Fornals added. “This is something for West Ham, the coach, the players, the fans and for the entire club. To perform this job, it is going to take everybody involved with West Ham. I am quite confident that we can do it.
“We will need to stay together and fight as a club to do it.”
