David Moyes proclaimed “the new West Ham” after his side defeated Burnley to move to within three points of the Champions League places.

The 30-year-old forward, who coming into the game had only made four appearances since October because of hamstring problems, slotted home Pablo Fornals’ cross.

For Moyes, this second stint as Hammers manager began with him pulling the club out of relegation trouble last season and he now has his team within touching distance of the European places.

“We’re not the old West Ham any more, we’re the new West Ham,” said the Scot. “And we’re going to try to become even better.

“It needs time and there will be periods when it’s not going so well. There’ll be periods when it is, but we’re certainly not settling for where we are.”

The Hammers have now kept four successive clean sheets in all competitions, and Moyes added: “We are pleased with that because I don’t think you win games without them.

“You always have a chance of picking up a point if you don’t concede a goal, and that was very good.”

West Ham were the greater attacking threat on Saturday, and went close again when Angelo Ogbonna’s header came off the post before Antonio’s effort was cleared off the line by Ben Mee.

Sean Dyche’s Burnley never really got going as an attacking force, although they improved marginally after the break following Dwight McNeil’s introduction. The midfielder produced a cross that came off the bar while Mee sent a header a foot wide.

Brighton’s win at Leeds means Burnley are now down to 17th, four points above the drop zone, and West Ham are up to ninth.

Moyes’ entertainers shining for West Ham

Moyes’ version of the ‘West Ham way’ seems to be doing the trick at the moment.

The Hammers have 10 more points than they did at this stage last season, and have scored six more goals. The manager likened himself to a headteacher this week, stating his side “must do better”, but many will think his players have already surpassed pre-season expectations.

Key to this healthier return has been the addition of creative and goalscoring midfielders such as Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek, who have become vital cogs in the side a year after signing, while £30m capture Said Benrahma appears to be gradually rediscovering his Brentford form.

Winger Bowen, who cost £18m, has an incredible engine and against the Clarets appeared to act as a second striker to Antonio because of the amount of times he found himself in the area. It was his good work on the left of the area which allowed Fornals to provide the cross for the opener.

Antonio, 30, was already important to Moyes and is now even more so after the Sebastien Haller experiment failed. The former winger scored a glut of goals towards the end of last season and began this campaign well before hamstring injuries hampered his progress.

He kept his cool for his goal when Burnley’s defenders did not and later saw a header cleared off the line.

If he can stay fit for the rest of the season then expect a glowing end-of-term report from Moyes.

Burnley fire blanks again

Dyche has been in this position before with Burnley, but this time he might not have to rely on his man-management skills to pull the team out of the mire.

New owners have promised him funds for January signings, with reports linking them with two midfielders. They certainly need better service for their front men.

Ashley Barnes failed to produce an effort on goal while Chris Wood’s only strike was a first-half drive which drifted a foot wide. Burnley have now failed to score in six of their past seven away league games, and they have only managed nine goals in the league so far this season.

Fans should not panic yet, but it could be a different mood with matches against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City to come in the next three weeks.

Later on Saturday, Burnley announced new chairman Alan Pace had contracted coronavirus. Pace has yet to watch the team play live because he has been self-isolating following a positive test in his household.

‘We need to get more effective’ – reaction

Burnley boss Sean Dyche said: “It’s rare in the Premier League to go away from home and have as much possession as we did.

“There’s a lot of things right about the team at the moment but we’ve got to find the margins. We’re close but we’ve got to make sure we do it rather than waiting for it to happen.

“After eight games we had two points. So we’ve been effective. But we need to get more effective.”

What’s next?

West Ham host West Brom on Tuesday (18:00 GMT) and Burnley are at Liverpool on Thursday (20:00 GMT).

Antonio joins the ’40 club’ – stats

• West Ham have won eight of their 18 Premier League games so far this season. They didn’t pick up their eighth league win until their 32nd game last term.
• No team has failed to score in more Premier League games than Burnley this season (10), while no team has scored in more games so far than West Ham (15).
• West Ham have kept three consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League for the first time since September 2019.
• Antonio became the fourth player to score 40 Premier League goals for West Ham, after Paolo di Canio (47), Mark Noble (46) and Carlton Cole (41).
• All 40 of Antonio’s Premier League goals have been scored from inside the box, with only four players having achieved the same in the competition (Tim Cahill, Javier Hernandez, Gabriel Jesus and John Terry).

Sourced From BBC