‘Tonight was like Upton Park’: David Moyes praises West Ham fans for bringing the noise to London Stadium after Hammers crush Leicester 4-1 to move top of Premier League
- West Ham coach David Moyes hailed the atmosphere as they thrashed Leicester
- Nearly 60,000 fans were in the London Stadium for the first time in 18 months
- ‘The noise and atmosphere reminded me of Upton Park. It really did,’ said Moyes
David Moyes hailed the atmosphere at the London Stadium as West Ham crushed Leicester to move top of the table, claiming it was similar to the noise generated at the club’s old Upton Park stadium.
Nearly 60,000 fans were in the London Stadium for the first time since February 2020 and generated a terrific noise in the 4-1 victory.
‘I managed at Upton Park against West Ham, and I thought tonight was like Upton Park,’ said Moyes.
David Moyes paid tribute to West Ham fans for the atmosphere in their 4-1 win over Leicester
Moyes said the fans had created an atmosphere reminiscent of old ground Upton Park
‘The people who have been at the game at Upton over the years, the noise and atmosphere there, this reminded me of Upton Park. It really did.
‘The support was terrific, and the players really gave them something to cheer about.’
Moyes also hailed Michail Antonio ‘different class’ after the striker fired himself into the West Ham record books and the Hammers to the top of the Premier League.
Antonio’s quickfire double wrapped up a 4-1 victory over the 10-man Foxes.
His first saw him overtake Paolo Di Canio as West Ham’s top Premier League goalscorer, and he celebrated in hilarious fashion by kissing a life-size cardboard cut-out of himself.
Moments later he was one short of a half-century of top-flight goals as West Ham maintained their flying start to the season.
Moyes celebrates with star man Said Benrahma and double goalscorer Michail Antonio
The London Stadium is disliked by many fans for its distance between the pitch and stands
Hammers boss Moyes said: ‘There were a lot of good things for us tonight, the most important was three points and it was a really good performance.
‘His goals are typical Mich. He can score so many. I didn’t think he made the right choices in the first half but in the second half he was different class.
‘He’s only been at centre-forward for the last 18 months or two years. He’s gone on from there and he’s looking a real handful. His all-round play has improved so much.’
Moyes said Antonio was ‘different class’ after the striker made club history with his two goals
On his side’s performance, Moyes added: ‘We’ve been feeling we’ve been doing a lot of good things, Leicester did good things as well.
‘They won the FA Cup and Community Shield, we knew they are a good side. But we played well. The first half was tough, they had a little bit more of the ball. We got there and got a good result.
‘The way they play, they have so many good players. Tielemans, Perez, Maddison are all top players. We were worried about how they got in behind. We were good at restricting them, Soucek did a great job. He made it hard for them. We then blossomed and went from there.’