WE SHOULD HONOUR OGBONNA

Moyes: Angelo is our new leader, legend.. we must think of him as a Hammers great

FIST CLASS Boss David Moyes acknowledges the work of Ogbonna

DAVID MOYES believes that Angelo Ogbonna is getting better with age.

And he wants the Italian centre-back to remember good times he had when he finally leaves the London Stadium.

Ogbonna, 32, has been at West Ham for six years since his £11million move from Juventus.

Always regarded as solid and good in the air, there were occasional lapses of concentration in the defender’s game that mirrored West Ham’s perennial uncertainty at the back.

But as the ball arrowed into the West Ham penalty area time and time again in the closing stages of Saturday’s clash, as Burnley vainly attempted to wrest something from this match, unerringly it seemed to meet the head of the immaculately-placed Ogbonna, or if not, the rugged Craig

Dawson. It was Ogbonna who marshalled a Hammers defence who might have crumbled a year ago against the onslaught, who issued the orders, who was strong against the likes of the burly Chris Wood, the physical Ashley Barnes.

Moyes seems to have sorted out those lapses because this shut-out made it four clean sheets in a row as his team moved to ninth in the Premier League.

Ogbonna, who will have a year left on his Hammers contract when this season ends, was a leader in the mud and rain in the FA Cup at Stockport last week, in the win at Everton and the gritty draw at Southampton. West Ham, unusually, are becoming hard to beat.

“Angelo is a leader –a big member of this squad,” said

Moyes.

“He’s a big part of this group, like Mark Noble and

Declan Rice.

“When his career finishes we want him to be able to say he had good times at West Ham. If you were a goalscorer and scored four goals in four

SWIM WHEN WERE WINNING... games, you’d be thrilled and saying Angelo was sensational. “For a centre-half to do that is a great achievement – Angelo’s levels have gone up.

“His levels of play, his concentration.

“He was called up to the Italian squad in the last window, so that gives you an idea of where his performances have been. He’s been really good.

“His form is much better. Maybe that is down to age and experience. Sometimes centrehalves do get better later in their career.

“Over the season, you have to win games 1-0. It was a day where I needed my defenders to stand up and be counted – and Angelo and Craig Dawson did that. They were magnificent.”

West Ham should have won this game by a bigger margin.

Until the later stages when they threw men forward, Burnley offered worryingly little despite manager Sean Dyche’s optimism.

The Hammers took the lead when Pablo Fornals crossed, the Burnley defence missed the ball, and Michail Antonio, outstanding all game, superbly slotted home.

Ogbonna then hit the post with a header, Ben Mee had to clear off the line, Rice skimmed the bar with a free kick, Jarrod Bowen hit the side-netting, and Manuel Lanzini wasted another good chance.

It was tighter than it should have been but thanks to Angelo, that did not matter – another three points were in the Hammers’ bag.