Arthur Masuaku’s wonder-strike which completed a 3-0 Carabao Cup third round victory over Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday rounded off a perfect evening, according to Slaven Bilic.
The Hammers’ secured a comfortable win at London Stadium thanks to the Frenchman’s superb swerving strike, hit from 25 yards out with a minute of injury time left to play.
The hosts took an early lead through Angelo Ogbonna’s header, nodded in after four just minutes, before Diafra Sakho grabbed his first of the season, tapping in Arnautovic’s centre.
And though West Ham’s pace slowed in the second half with a spot in the fourth round more-or-less in the bag, they added a third to the delight of Bilic.
He said: “The strike was unbelievable. It was a brilliant goal and it was a nice way to finish the game, for not only him but for the whole game and for the team.
“To be fair, it is a privilege to see those kind of goals from down by the pitch. It was a wonder goal.
“We did the job tonight. It was a good game, especially first half. We started really well, we scored and we didn’t stop. We should have scored more goals and we didn’t stop.
“It was a really good performance from us. Second half, we slowed it down which I didn’t like but I can understand it with a game in mind on Saturday.”
There were a number of individual performances that pleased Bilic, including debutants Sead Haksabanovic and Nathan Holland who both impressed in the cup tie.
But the boss singled out Austrian Arnautovic, who set-up two of the hosts’ three goals on his return to the starting XI after serving a three-match ban.
The strike was unbelievable. It was a brilliant goal and it was a nice way to finish the game
Slaven Bilic
“Marko is a special player,” Bilic continued. “He has that special skill with the ball and he gets the ball in good positions and has the quality. He has got it.
“Now he’s back, we expect him to do it, and he was good today, but we expect him to do this regularly anyway.”
The east Londoners reached the quarter-final stage of the competition last term, before crashing out against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the last-eight.
Prior to that, Chelsea were beaten at London Stadium and Bilic is hoping this campaign the draw will be kinder to his side.
“We need performances and a bit of luck in the draw,” he said. “Last year we got Chelsea and then we got Man United and in the FA Cup we got Man City.
“But we need to be a bit luckier in the draw and then the dreams can become realistic. Hopefully we can have a good draw, because some of the teams – with the greatest respect – are beatable.
“We are dreaming of Wembley. There’s nothing wrong in saying that because every team is dreaming about that.”
The Hammers now go into Saturday’s huge London derby against Tottenham Hotspur on the back of three clean sheets in as many matches, and the manager claimed the spirit is high in the camp.
“The confidence is back, slowly. But it’s all about winning games, keeping clean sheets and as I said, you can’t say that we’ve turned the corner because we have to keep working, not only in games but also in trainings.
“Unfortunately we still have two or three injuries but we will approach the Tottenham game in a positive way, knowing it will be probably our biggest test this season.
“We have to continue like this and we have to build on this. We have the confidence back, we have a pattern, and let’s build on that. This was a performance which will help in that building.
“As I said before the game to the players, some players who had a game and think they should be playing, there’s only one place that you can impress me; on the pitch in a game. A number of players did that today.”