Ogbonna staying focused after dream Hammers week

Christmas came early for Angelo Ogbonna off the pitch, but the West Ham defender was left delighted that football could bring its own bundle of joy on Saturday afternoon.

The Italian has celebrated a memorable few days, with back-to-back Hammers victories the cherry on top of his fiancé giving birth to a baby boy, Samuel.

But despite his side heading into Christmas with victory over Hull City, the scratchy performance has left many at the London Stadium wondering if the expected resurgence will be forthcoming.

However with character shown, Slaven Bilic’s side are at least heading in the right direction, with Ogbonna hopeful that can carry forward into the Boxing Day trip to Swansea and the Liberty Stadium.

(Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)

“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 fiancé and it is very important,” he said.

“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.

“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.”