West Ham fans should get carried away ahead of Aston Villa clash as Manuel Pellegrini’s ‘big team mentality’ starts to bear fruit

WEST HAM will go joint second if they win at Aston Villa tonight and Hammers fans are right to be getting carried away.

Now more than ever.

God knows we’ve done it before – and usually when the state of the club, manager and players far from warranted it.

It takes some serious mental gymnastics to convince yourself that David Moyes is the saviour your team needs or that Sam Allardyce will change his approach any game now.

But we tried.

Granted, some of us managed it more successfully than others.

But asked how West Ham would get on before Moyes’ first game away to Watford, or how the Hammers would fare ahead of the 2014/15 season – Allardyce’s fourth inevitably inflexible campaign in charge – the majority of fans donned the claret and blue tinted specs and spouted differing levels of optimism because we are football fans and that’s what we do.

It turns out we lost 2-0 away at Watford under Moyes and ground out an all too predictable 12th place finish under Allardyce.

Rival fans dubbed us delusional – probably accurately – as we called for a European push or AT LEAST a top ten finish during those tough times.

But not anymore.

‘BIG TEAM MENTALITY’

Club record signing Sebastien ‘The Baller’ Haller has hit the ground running with three goals in his last two Prem games and has generally looked a right old handful since his £45million move from Eintracht Frankfurt.

And weekend reports suggesting West Ham outbid Bayern Munich for his signature show just how far the club has come since Manuel Pellegrini came on board.

Add to that £75m former Man Utd target Issa Diop, quiet but deadly Felipe Anderson, England’s rapidly flourishing Declan Rice and a long term deal for class act Manual Lanzini and you have quite the outfit on your hands.

Hell even ‘King Arthur’ Masuaku got a contract extension.

I also have it on good authority that the atmosphere among the players is by far the best it’s been since the London Stadium move.

And while the squad clearly has talented individuals, there is a real sense of togetherness and a united belief in Pellegrini’s project among the team.

I am told certain players served to undermine that in seasons past but now they have gone there is genuine unity on show.

There’ll be no prizes for guessing one of the most recent perpetrators but his name rhymes with ‘Shmarnautovic’.

Now it is important to remember this Jenga tower of positivity could quickly come tumbling down if ‘The Baller’ gets injured.

With £140k-a-week Javier Hernandez let go just weeks after declaring his desire for a “new challenge” – and then bizarrely being handed the number 9 shirt – West Ham are undeniably short up front.

But – whatever your view on his motivation level – the Mexican was one of the club’s top five earners and certainly not one of the top five on-field contributors, so I get it.

Albian Ajeti – the Swiss forward signed from FC Basel – is still an unknown quantity and may prove an inadequate back up if Haller gets injured, but either way let’s cross that bridge IF we come to it.

Let’s not focus on the potential bad, let us instead focus on the barrels of actual good that is on show at the Hammers for the first time since at least the last season at Upton Park.

To remind you once more, West Ham have a Brazilian, an Argentinian and – perhaps most surprisingly of all – an English international in their first XI so there is no reason why fans can’t dream big. Or at least bigger.

So next up there is a claret and blue derby to win at Villa Park and a bid to continue the unbeaten run that started on the second game of the season.

And I am looking forward to the trip where – as well fondly reminiscing about Marlon Harewood’s winner in the 2006 FA Cup semi-final – I am expecting to see another West Ham win on the road as Pellegrini’s coveted “big team mentality” starts to bear fruit.

is a journalist for SunSport and co-founder of .