James Ward-Prowse has thanked West Ham manager Graham Potter for giving him “freedom” on the pitch.
The midfielder insists the Hammers have room to climb the Premier League table in the second half of the season after avoiding a potential banana skin by beating Leicester City on Thursday.
West Ham lost 3-1 to the struggling Foxes at the King Power Stadium in early December under Julen Lopetegui’s management, but they avenged that defeat at the London Stadium on Thursday night as a goal from Tomas Soucek and own goal by Ward-Prowse’s former Southampton team-mate Jannik Vestergaard earned the Hammers a 2-0 win.
That made it back-to-back victories and clean sheets for 15th-place West Ham, after their surprise 1-0 win against Arsenal at the Emirates last Saturday.
“It was a really good team performance,” said Ward-Prowse. “We knew it would be a totally different test from the one that we had at the weekend, and we knew we'd have a lot of the ball.
“We knew we'd be up against a deep block and would have to try and break them down. I thought we did it really well, managed the game well in the second half and came away with a well-deserved win.”
As well as signing Evan Ferguson on loan from Brighton, West Ham’s January transfer business included reaching a mutual agreement with Nottingham Forest to cut short Ward-Prowse’s ill-fated loan at the City Ground.
“I'm just happy to be back playing again,” the 11-time England international said.
“The manager's style definitely suits me. He's given me the freedom to go out there and get on the ball and express myself. I'm just enjoying playing my football again, and I just love being out there.”
Soucek’s goal came on the occasion of his 30th birthday, and Ward-Prowse said of the Czech: “He deserved his goal, and it was good for him to have it on his birthday. I look forward to seeing what cakes he brings in tomorrow!
“I think the result is a real sign of the team that we are and the progress we're making that we were able to win tonight.
“A lot of people might have seen it as a bit of a slip-up game with them fighting for their lives, but we showed our professionalism and our quality in the end. I think there's definitely room to climb the table for sure.
“It's still tight, and I think a few good results and a few bad results can throw you either end [of the table] really quickly, so I think we've just got to keep our heads down and keep working hard.”
