Slaven Bilic hails 'fantastic' West Ham win at Southampton

Slaven Bilic praised West Ham's complete performance as they returned to winning ways with a 3-1 win at Southampton.

Goals from Andy Carroll, Pedro Obiang and Mark Noble saw the Hammers bounce back from Wednesday's drubbing against Manchester City in style.

West Ham also recovered from Manolo Gabbiadini's opener at St. Mary's to secure a third win in four league outings, and Bilic was unanimous.

"The key was everything, we played a fantastic game," he told Sky Sports. "We had our plan and the guys executed it brilliantly.

"Gabbiadini's goal was great but we didn't give up and continued to play like we played.

"They let us play a little bit and that's why we were good, we grew with the game and equalised quick.

"It was a great team performance, solid defending with numbers and closing them down. When we could press them we pressed them.

"With the ball we had pace, presence and bodies up front and we were great switching sides with combinations from the back.

"It's not only three points it's a great performance and I'm so proud of the boys."

West Ham's victory - their first ever at St. Mary's - lifted the club to ninth in the Premier League, 14 points clear of Southampton who dropped to 13th.

And Bilic claimed victory against one of their direct rivals would leave the Hammers in good stead going forward.

"This is a very difficult away trip, they have played some really good stuff both at home and away," he added.

"They were one point below us before the game so this was one of them six pointers so it was extremely important for this stage of the season because the crazy results have started to happen.

"Forty two points to go and we have to approach every game like it was our last.

"With a little bit of luck if we continue to play like this over even better or with a little bit less unluckiness we're going to be OK."