Here’s the Pellegrini verdict

Tonight we saw the West Ham Way as reinvented by Manuel Pellegrini and it’s a joy to watch.

There’s only one thing better than winning and that’s winning with style and we now have real style about us and Marko on the way back. All this with a massive injury list..

Manuel Pellegrini has too much class to start clapping himself on the back after 19 games in charge but so far he has taken this club further in that time than any recent manager other than Bilic’s last at the Boleyn.

He demanded from several games ago that we play as a big team and at Fulham and at Saints again tonight that’s how it felt – a big team doing what big team do, taking a goal setback on the chin and then putting the whippersnappers who dared to do it firmly in their place.

I don’t know how high this team can go. What I do know is that this is becoming one hell of a ride for us fans who have suffered big time over recent seasons. And it feels soooo good.

Talking to the BBC afterwards the manager said: “December has been a good month for the team, not just for me, for the team. We played a very good game from the beginning.

We didn’t allow Southampton to reach our box. We started one goal down but we drew level as soon as we could and then got the second goal.

“I think one of the most important things is that we play the same way away as at home. We try to continue doing our work. The better thing we did was to stop them being near our box.

“Anderson’s run of goals is important for him and the team. It’s not easy for a midfield player to score so many goals by this stage of the season. He can change the score of the game in any moment.

“It’s consistency that is important for us. The important thing after our start to the season was to reduce the gap to all the other teams.

I think if we continue play this way, we will improve the number of points we can get. With our winning mentality, it’s important to finish as high up the table as we can.”