Winston Reid lifts lid on what sets Slaven Bilic apart during West Ham’s difficult times

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West Ham United ended a seven game winless run against Burnley and much of the credit must go to Slaven Bilic says star defender Winston Reid.

Mark Noble’s goal on the stroke of half-time sealed a nervy 1-0 win for the Hammers over Sean Dyche’s side at the London Stadium on Wednesday night.

That came off the back of a hard-earned point in a 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield last weekend.

It lifted Slaven Bilic’s men up to 15th in the Premier League table with another home game against Hull City on the horizon on Saturday.

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic with West Ham United’s Mark Noble as he is substituted

The Hammers went into the game just one place and one point off the bottom three so a win was all that mattered.

And star defender Winston Reid has told the club’s official website much of the credit must go to the manager, who comes into his own when the chips are down.

“That was the message from the manager, that we’ve just got to believe in ourselves as a team,” Reid told whufc.com.

West Ham United’s Winston Reid

“I know it’s difficult when you’re conceding four and five goals, as we did recently, and you can see that around the dressing room, but Slaven has always been good at coming in and keeping the players’ spirits high.

“We’ve been training well and everything and hopefully we’re starting to turn the corner now, because we really need to.”

With Hull next up to visit London Stadium on Saturday, the East Londoners have every chance to close the gap on the top eight and start looking up and instead of down for the second half of the season.

A win could take them as high as 13th, just four points off the top seven – which would mark some turnaround from where the club found itself just a fortnight ago following back-to-back 4-1 and 5-1 defeats to Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.

It is no coincidence that players returning from injury have resulted in much improved performances from the Hammers.

That said the club should still be looking to bring in one or two players in the January transfer window, with a striker and a right back the key areas that need addressing.