Collins - West Ham have turned a corner

nick collins
Sky Sports News chief football reporter Nick Collins has nothing but praise for the way Slaven Bilic handled the Andy Carroll situation and feels it could motivate the players even more to get a result against Stoke on Saturday.
 
The Hammers are hoping to build on their recent four game unbeaten run and Collins feels this is another great chance to make London Stadium feel like home if they can secure another big three points....

 
 
It was no surprise that the Andy Carroll incident dominated the pre-match press conference at the Club's training ground on Thursday.
 
It would have been very easy for Slaven and the Club to avoid taking any questions on what happened, but I thought they handled it very well.
 
Slaven spoke very well about what happened and even when another reporter tried to get him talking about it at the end of the conference, he was still able to give an honest assessment of what happened.
 
It was interesting for me to see how he handled the question of what the players are supposed to do and Slaven said it would be a big shame if they were not able to mix with the fans.
 
I am sure this will not affect the players heading into the Stoke game on Saturday and they will be keen to build on recent home victories against Sunderland and Chelsea.
 
Despite the defeat against Everton last weekend you like to think that West Ham have turned a corner.
 
The recent two home wins have come at just the right time and you could see during the week with Tottenham that playing at a new Stadium can have a big influence on the team.
 
It takes time to adjust but West Ham look to have done that now and to get that big win over Chelsea will be a major advantage going forward and will go a long way to helping them settle down.
 
We have seen before what moving to a bigger ground can do for a Club and I am sure that West Ham will be thinking about challenging for a place in the Champions League and winning trophies in the next few years.
 
You only have to look at teams like Tottenham who are also developing their Stadium, but the Hammers have already done it and this is the moment where they need to move onto the next level.
 
A lot has been expected of Dimitri Payet and rightly so after what he achieved last season. I thought he was the best overseas player in the Premier League.
 
He has made a slow start this season but he now looks back to his best and that is so important for West Ham.
 
He can influence games against the big teams and was voted for the Ballon d'Or which shows the impact he has made.
 
Some players struggle to settle in when they first arrive in the Premier League, but he hit the ground running straight away.
 
This is another big game and with Arnautovic suspended and Shaqiri rated a big doubt, this is another opportunity for West Ham to show they have fully settled into London Stadium.
 
It will not be easy and Stoke will provide another genuine test as they are on a good run of form at the moment.
 
Joe Allen could be the key for them as he is producing some of his best form at the moment and was one of the star player for Wales during their amazing success at the Euros during the summer. West Ham will have to find a way of stopping him.
 
I think West Ham will win the game 2-1 and another victory will go a long way to seeing all the talk about the new Stadium start to evaporate.