Angelo Ogbonna reckons the no-longer-toxic atmosphere at the London Stadium combined with West Ham’s Europa Conference League challenge can help fuel their bid for Premier League survival.
Three years ago, shortly after moving into the London Stadium, the Hammers found themselves in a relegation battle similar to this season’s and Ogbonna well remembers how difficult the negativity that surrounded the club made things back then. This time out, however, on the back of successive European campaigns, he senses a different feeling altogether.
And despite the Hammers’ precarious position, he feels an air of positivity both in the dressing-room and in the stands that he hopes will propel them not only to Europa Conference League glory but safety as well.
The Italian, whose side host Arsenal today, said: “I remember three years ago at this moment, the atmosphere was even toxic. But even though we are in kind of the same situation, the atmosphere is more positive than it was.
“When we moved to the new stadium, the fans weren’t happy and the crowd was so wide [around the stadium]. Now it feels like our stadium and, what we did, we did all together.
“But they know we can do even more, they know we have very good players and can turn things around. Everything comes from expectation. For two years we played in Europe. The way we started in the league, a little bit sloppy, and then carried on, the fans expected more.
“Maybe they were expecting to go to the Champions League because of the money we spent and the things we did, but it’s a transition moment.
"Every club has this kind of thing. Even Jurgen Klopp [at Liverpool ] had to wait four or five years to win something. Our new players hadn’t played in the Premier League, one of the top leagues. It’s normal that you have to go through this.”
West Ham spent more than £165million on new players last summer. But Ogbonna added: “These days, the market lies sometimes. The price of the market is very high. We say, ‘Oh, we spent £200million, we need to do something important’. But the market is the market and it’s totally different to the value of the player.”
Ogbonna himself has had a tough season after missing the last six months of last season with a knee injury but he is in the groove again now and was praised highly by manager David Moyes and Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer for his display in the 1-0 win against Fulham last weekend.
The 34-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season and happy to wait until then to discuss any potential extension with the club, said: “I appreciate the compliments but on the other hand I don’t like it until I get what I want.
“The priority is to stay in the league and it’s not about the money we’ve spent. For the pride and history of the club, it’s really important to stay in the league.
“We cannot underestimate the Conference League quarter-final, it can help drive us to avoid the relegation in the league. We are not stupid, we do not want to play in the Championship.”
