Julen Lopetegui revealed West Ham goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski was conscious and talking after being forced off in the first half of a 1-0 win at Southampton following a nasty collision.

Fabianski was caught late by Southampton defender Nathan Wood after he punched away a corner in the 29th minute and required seven minutes of medical attention before he was taken off on a stretcher.

While the veteran goalkeeper had an oxygen mask on as he left the pitch, Lopetegui confirmed he did not need to go hospital and remained at St Mary’s for the second half where Jarrod Bowen’s goal after 59 minutes settled a drab Boxing Day contest.

“He had one big knock around the head, around the neck and he was not very sure about his actions. Fortunately the news is he is talking, he is alert, he is conscious,” Lopetegui said.

“I talked with him. The doctors say that he feels better and well. I am positive with him.

“He showed he more or less recovered his sense. I am not afraid. We feared but now he is better and it is a positive feeling because we were very worried.”

West Ham had started well, with Carlos Soler firing against the crossbar after four minutes, but the hosts responded positively in new manager Ivan Juric’s first match in charge.

Paul Onuachu – on only his second start of the campaign – was a constant menace up front for Saints and yet failed to score with a number of first-half chances.

Fabianski denied Onuachu with a superb save after 25 minutes before he was replaced by Alphonse Areola nine minutes later.

Areola thwarted Onuachu in first-half stoppage time before West Ham thought they had been reduced to 10 men in the 51st minute when Guido Rodriguez was shown a red card for a late tackle on Kyle Walker-Peters.

VAR told referee Lewis Smith to review the incident on the pitchside monitor and he downgraded his decision to a yellow card before Bowen settled the contest when he poked home after Niclas Fullkrug had flicked on Tomas Soucek’s header across the Southampton penalty area.

Lopetegui added: “I have to see always the match to analyse better, but my first point of view is we were resilient and able to suffer as a team to achieve three important points in one contest with a lot of problems.”

Juric was pleased with the efforts of his Southampton players but frustrated with the manner of West Ham’s winner after Yukinari Sugawara gave away a needless corner with a misplaced pass.

“We play good. We create a lot, find a way to be dangerous and I like lots of things but disappointed with the result,” Juric said.

“We cannot concede this kind of goal because we give a corner too easy and you have to be focused on the game 90 minutes. Not just in moments.”

Juric’s first major call was to drop starlet Tyler Dibling and hand only a second start of the season to forward Onuachu.

West Ham welcomed back Soler but lost Lucas Paqueta to suspension, and the former almost put them ahead in the fourth minute.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka ended a lung-bursting run with a fine cross for Soler, who smashed the ball against the crossbar before Rodriguez’s follow-up strike was deflected away from goal.

West Ham’s Max Kilman was brought off soon after due to a shoulder issue before Fabianski thwarted Walker-Peters’ weak effort and then produced an even better save to deny Onuachu after 25 minutes.

Walker-Peters dug out a cross and Onuachu’s header back across goal was superbly clawed away by Fabianski, who unfortunately exited proceedings not long after.

Things went from bad to worse for Southampton a minute before the hour mark as West Ham took the lead.

It started with a miscued pass by Sugawara gifting the Hammers a corner. After they kept the ball alive from the set-piece, a cross by Edson Alvarez was headed back across goal by Tomas Soucek and flicked on by Niclas Füllkrug, which allowed Bowen to poke home.