Daily WHUFC News - 19th December 2016

Ogbonna - This has been a dream week
WHUFC.com

Angelo Ogbonna capped a dream week with another big win over Hull on
Saturday and is now looking forward to spending his first Christmas as a
father. Ogbonna was thrilled to see his side record back-to-back victories
and has enjoyed a memorable few days after his fiancé gave birth to a baby
boy called Samuel. The Italian defender was determined to end the week on a
high note and despite the Hammers not producing their best performance, they
still showed the character to come away with a crucial 1-0 victory. Ogbonna
is now hoping the Hammers can enjoy a festive Christmas period and enjoy a
second half to the season as they look to move towards the top half of the
table Ogbonna said: "It has been a very lucky week for me and my family. I
am so proud to have become a father and I want to say a big thank you to my
fiancée and it is very important. "We are so happy to get seven points and
we should not forget the point we got at Anfield last week which was really
important. "We have to keep going and stay concentrated. We didn't play well
against Hull but the most important thing is the three points and hopefully
we will play better in the next game. "I want to talk about our position in
the table which was better than the performance. We are staying positive
because we got three points and it is so important for everyone. The fans
stayed behind us and this is football. "I don't know how much this will turn
our season around. I want to stay focused on the present because sometimes
our mistake was sometimes setting our expectations too high and we have to
stay focused on the next game."

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James Corden enjoys London Stadium visit
WHUFC.com

James Corden made the most of a break back to the UK from his Los Angeles
home, by attending Saturday's 1-0 victory over Hull City at London Stadium.
The staunch Hammers fan, now a huge star on both sides of the Atlantic, was
at West Ham's new home for the first time and happily spent time before the
match signing autographs for fans. He even took on West Ham TV interview
duties at full-time, and you can see his hilarious chat with skipper Mark
Noble below!

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Academy present generous Christmas donation
WHUFC.com

The Club's Academy handed over their substantial donation of Christmas toys
over to two separate appeals this week
First, Time Radio benefitted from the Hammers' generosity before members of
the coaching and playing staff visited the Salvation Army
West Ham TV went along to the presentation of gifts and caught up with those
who played a huge role in the appeal

The Academy of Football did their bit to help those who are less fortunate
this Christmas by donating hundreds of children's toys to two separate toy
appeals this week. First, the Club teamed up with Time Radio – based in
Romford – to hand over half their generous donation of toys before visiting
the Salvation Army UK base in south London to present the remainder of their
contribution. With so many from the Academy either providing the collection
at Chadwell Heath with a children's toy, or digging deep into their pockets
to contribute some money towards the cause, an impressive assortment of
gifts was gathered.

Young Hammers Dan Kemp, Jahmal Hector-Ingram and Josh Pask, alongside coach
Liam Manning and kit man Andy Tyson went along to the Salvation Army, who
were delighted with the contribution. UK leader of the charity Clive Adams
said: "We're always grateful when people come to us with support like this,
which enables us to do our work. But it's especially good to see young
people with a profession that they're focused on, giving some time. "As role
models, those young people encourage other young people to do the same
thing. So it's especially good to see these young people from West Ham doing
this. "I don't think it's news to anyone that there are a lot of people in
our day who are struggling all over the place. In particular, though, in the
area where West Ham is. "There will be people who we have regular contact
with – people who come to our food banks, our church services, our debt
advice offices – there are many people in need. "They might not be able to
spare the extra pennies to offer their children something special for
Christmas, so this becomes very important for those people."

Kit man Andy Tyson, who with ladies manager and Academy coach Greg De Carnys
played a huge role in organising the toy appeal at Chadwell Heath, told West
Ham TV why it was great to play a part in the cause. "It's just brilliant,"
he said. "Seeing how many of the lads have brought in a present or donated
some money to the cause, it's nice that when we now put them under the tree,
it's great to see. They are going to go somewhere they will be appreciated.
It's been a good afternoon. "I'm sad to see some of the toys go! But,
somebody else is going to be benefitting from them and that's the most
important thing. "Everyone in the Academy, players and staff, they've all
made such an amazing contribution to a wonderful cause. "Whether that's a
present or a donation of money, it shows you how much they're thinking about
other people at this time of year and I think that's so important."

Finally, defender Pask, who is recovering from an injury which halted his
impressive progress on loan at Gillingham, explained why it was personally
special for him to visit the Salvation Army. The youngster said: "It's
great. This place is like a second work place for me as my Dad works here
and I did some work experience here. "It's good to come back and obviously
see some faces that I knew previously. It's also to give some presents back
to those in our community. "A lot of people go through some highs at
Christmas but for some people there are big lows and some are very lonely.
Any help we can offer by giving back to the community with things like this
is great. "It was also good to come into Chadwell Heath and see those
presents there every morning; it was colourful! Just before we walk into the
changing rooms, there was a massive pool of presents there for quite a
while, so it was great to see."

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Stat's a Fact - Spot-on Nobes
WHUFC.com

What a difference a week makes! West Ham claimed seven points in seven days
after last weekend's hard-fought draw at Liverpool and back-to-back home
wins against Burnley and Hull lifted us to 13th in the Barclays Premier
League.

With two goals in the week, captain Mark Noble played a huge part in the
Hammers' upturn in results. The second of which, a successful penalty kick
past Hull City's David Marshall, continued his near flawless career record
from the spot.

In fact, Noble first had the opportunity to extend his record on Wednesday
night against Burnley. Whilst his penalty was saved, the Hammers skipper was
able to poke in the re-bound to give us an all-important three points.

Even with his miss on Wednesday night, Mark has successfully converted 23
out of his last 25 penalty kicks in all competitions. Had it not been for
Tom Heaton's save, Nobes' record would have stood at just one missed penalty
in over seven-and-a-half years.

Mark Noble's penalty conversion was his third of the season
Mark sent Hull goalkeeper David Marshall the wrong way on Saturday

His first spot-kick in the Claret and Blue of West Ham came in a 1-0 victory
over Birmingham City in August 2007. Since then, Noble has taken a total of
32 penalties in all competitions for West Ham – scoring 28 and missing just
four: a conversion rate of 88%.

His penalties were the 54th and 57th of the current Premier League campaign
and the third and fourth awarded to West Ham this season. Elsewhere,
Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Liverpool top the
charts with five penalties awarded each. Meanwhile, at the other end of the
spectrum, yesterday saw visitors Hull City concede their tenth penalty of
the season – more than any other club.

As captain, Noble's influence over the side is in plain sight on a weekly
basis and outside of the penalty box, Noble was a key figure in the heart of
midfield once again yesterday.

Noble completed 57 passes and 70 touches in the middle of the park – the
most by any player, respectively. His 91 percent pass completion rate was
bettered only by Pedro Obiang (94 percent) and Winston Reid (93 percent),
proving once again his ability to pull the strings from deep is second to
none.

In more advanced areas, Noble had just one shot on goal yesterday afternoon
but, of course, it was the telling effort!

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The Post wins MOTM award!
WHUFC.com

The Claret and Blue Army showed their world-famous sense of humour by voting
'The Post' Man of the Match in Saturday's 1-0 win over Hull City.

Hull hit the frame of the goal three times before Mark Noble's penalty
sealed the points for Slaven Bilic's side - completing a week in which the
Hammers also drew 2-2 at Liverpool and beat Burnley 1-0 on home turf.

On Saturday, Tigers striker Dieumerci Mbokani hit one post in the first
half, before Noble headed against his own upright and Hull left-back Andrew
Robertson thundered an angled drive against the woodwork.

Prior to their visit to east London, Hull had hit the woodwork three times
in 16 matches. On Saturday, they doubled that tally in 90 minutes.

West Ham took full advantage, scoring a vital victory when Michail Antonio
was brought down by Tom Huddlestone and Noble - who hit a post in
Wednesday's win over Burnley - scored from the spot.

A poll on the Club's official Twitter account gave 'The Post' a chance to be
rewarded for its heroics, and 57% of 4,700 respondents gave it their vote.

The Post will now enjoy a well-earned rest over Christmas before returning
to action against Manchester United on 2 January.

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