Slaven Bilic hails 'six-pointer' win over Southampton as West Ham moves into the top half

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James Benge4 February 2017

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic welcomed his side’s 3-1 victory at Southampton as a “six-pointer” – even though the win took the Hammers into the top half of the table.

Southampton began the day just a point off West Ham in mid-table but a third win in four games for Bilic’s side took them into the top half, 11 points clear of the relegation zone, and cleansed the sour taste of Wednesday’s 4-0 London Stadium humiliation against Manchester City.

Debutant Manolo Gabbiadini fired the hosts into the lead after 12 minutes but West Ham responded in style, Andy Carroll replying soon after before Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble struck either side of half-time to secure a fourth away win in 12 games for Bilic.

“It was a good away trip,” he said. “They have played some good football this season and started the game one point below us, so it was one of those for both of us that was a six-pointer.

“It’s extremely important at this stage of the season because all the crazy results have started to happen. We have to approach every game like it is our last game and, with a little bit of luck, we can continue to play like this or even better and we will be OK.”

Bilic also hailed the maturity of Carroll after the striker netted his fourth in four games, calmly slotting past Fraser Forster two minutes after Gabiaddini had given Southampton the lead.

Carroll exited just before the hour mark but had already made a major impact in West Ham’s win, consistently outmuscling Maya Yoshida and Jack Stephens whilst combining well with Michail Antonio.

“He is a matured man,” Bilic said. “He is happy, stable, has got three kids.

“The key is that and the number of training sessions. The best prevention of injuries is training."

As for Carroll's early exit Bilic added: “He felt a little bit of a groin [strain] when we played Middlesbrough so we didn't want to take any risks.

“At half-time we told him, if possible, to try to play 10 minutes. He said he can. We didn't want to take any risks with him. So hopefully he'll be ok. He felt something a little bit. You never know but hopefully he'll be available for the next game against West Brom."

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