Pablo Fornals believes West Ham United can take a lot of confidence from their performance away 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 into the lead at Anfield on Monday night with a well-placed first-time effort, after Issa Diop’s header had cancelled out Georginio Wijnaldum’s opener in the first-half.
Ultimately Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane would strike to give Liverpool the win, but Fornals feels the Hammers played a positive, battling match against the Reds.
“I think it’s not easy to come to the club that is first in the Premier League and fight on such an open pitch, but we did it,” Fornals told West Ham TV. “We fought an amazing match, but they won the game, which is what matters.
“It’s not easy here. They’ve not lost a game this season in the Premier League so the only thing we could do is try. It was good for us to try, and take our moments, and compete against this team.”
Having been introduced on 47 minutes in place of the injured Tomas Soucek, Fornals struck just a few moments later to send the travelling West Ham fans wild, turning home a Declan Rice close into the far corner.
The playmaker celebrated his third goal of the season in all competitions in front of the away support, saying that this was his way of thanking the Irons fans for their amazing support of him during his maiden campaign in Claret and Blue.
The 24-year-old confirmed: “When I scored, I wanted to go to our fans. Every single day, they support me. They want me to always play and I want to pay that back with goals and good performances. That’s how I can say 'Thank you'. It’s amazing to look at my social media and see how the fans support me.
“Thank you to all our supporters, who never stopped. We need them every time and it is because of them we have belief.”
With eleven matches left for West Ham in the Premier League, Fornals knows everyone associated with the Club need to remain united in order to see off the threat of relegation.
The Spaniard is confident, however, that the Irons have the talent and ability to do exactly that.
“We’re all in this,” Fornals added. “This is a thing for West Ham, the coach, the players, the fans and for the whole club. To do this job, it will take everyone involved with West Ham. I am so confident that we can do it.
“We need to keep together and fight as a club to do it.”
