Manuel Pellegrini was naturally delighted with tonight’s victory over Cardiff – only the second back to back win in nearly two years.

Speaking to www.whufc.com he said: “It was a good game with a good result. Maybe it was different in each half – the first 45 minutes we didn’t play so well, but in the second half we made more movement to create the space to try to score.

“I was pleased to see that the team wasn’t nervous when we didn’t score in the first half. Sometimes in that situation you can start to play faster than you need in the second half, but we were calm, we tried to keep continue believing in what we do every day and that was the reason why we scored the goals.

“I’m very happy for Lucas because he is a player who has arrived with me at West Ham, and for whatever reason he hasn’t had too many chances before, but the important thing is the player takes the chance when they have it and he did very well tonight.

“You never know what might have happened had that penalty gone in. We would have been losing 1-0 and the away team could have finished the first half in front when they didn’t have a shot on our goal before then and we had three clear chances, but it was a very good save for Lukasz.

“It’s good to believe in what we are doing. In every game we try to win from the first minute whether we are away or at home, and maybe that change of style is not easy to do in a short time, but game-by-game we are improving.”

He also added that Jack Wilshere’s absence from the match day squad was a precaution as he continues his comeback from an ankle injury.

“We cannot know about Marko at this moment. We must wait until tomorrow to see the medical examination and then we’ll know what it is.

“I didn’t want to take any risks with Jack. If he needed to play he could play, it was just to not take a risk.

ClaretandHugh says: The manager has very good reason to be thrilled with what happened tonight and I’m not talking about the result and the back to back wins – great though they are of course. What we saw against Cardiff was a team that is absorbing some serious managerial instructions. “Be a big team, play the right way and don’t underestimate the opposition EVER.” It’s a message the boss has been preaching for weeks and after what was clearly a shoddy first half there was no panic, just a calm assurance as the team took control over opposition who in the circumstances had a right to come out ready to carry on where they had ended at the interval. They never had a prayer. Despite a well changed team and a sub on who has had a pretty poor start at the club in Perez, the Irons showed they were listening and learning quickly from the manager and the future suddenly is starting to look very good indeed.