Before West Ham’s FA Cup win against QPR, the Hammers had gone ten games without a win.
Before West Ham’s 2-0 win against Burnley, they hadn’t kept a clean sheet since August.
The gap to Nottingham Forest is now two points, with Konstantinos Mavropanos playing every minute in West Ham’s run of five wins in eight, telling Sky Sports News how the QPR cup win was a turning point.
“We spoke in the dressing room and mentioned that it can be the game that changes the whole situation and give us a lot of energy and boost for the Premier League battle,” he said.
“And I think this is what happened after the QPR game. I think we’ve been playing really good football, getting better results and being stronger.”
West Ham, on recent form, do not look like a team that belongs in the Championship. I asked ‘Dinos’ if that’s what he thought.
He said: “With the quality that we have individually, you can see some players, how good they are. There are many times that I was thinking this, but when you go on the pitch you just have to show this.
“And there were moments that we couldn’t show that as we wanted, but I think the last couple of weeks we had some good results and we showed what we are capable of.”
For Mavropanos, the season has seen changes in manager, centre-back partners and goalkeepers behind him. Currently, it’s Axel Disasi next to him in defence, and Mads Hermansen behind him after a long spell as the acting number two keeper.
“Yeah, it has been a difficult period for him [Disasi],” he said. “But since he arrived, I think he has shown how good a player he is and what he can bring to the team, helping defensively with our work and with how strong he is. We’re just happy to have him here.”
Mavropanos keeps his cards close to his chest. He preferred to keep details in-house of who rallied the troops before QPR, the specific impact of Paco Jemez and even the differences playing with Hermansen and Alphonse Areola.
He’s doing his talking on the pitch, in arguably his best form at the club since moving from Stuttgart in 2023. It’ll need to carry on if West Ham are to keep closing the gap.
