West Ham must recover after ´tough´ FA Cup exit, says Nuno

Nuno Espirito Santo urged his West Ham team to pick themselves up and focus on their fight for Premier League survival after their “tough” FA Cup exit to Leeds United.

West Ham were dumped out of the competition in Sunday’s quarter-final after losing 4-2 in a penalty shoot-out having come from two goals down to draw 2-2 in normal time.

Ao Tanaka gave Leeds a 26th-minute lead before Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored a spot-kick after Max Kilman’s lunging foul on Brenden Aaronson 15 minutes from time.

However, the Hammers roared back in second-half stoppage time thanks to goals from Mateus Fernandes and Axel Disasi, and they could have even won it in extra-time.

Both Valentin Castellanos and Pablo had efforts ruled out for offside, but in the shoot-out, they came undone as captain Jarrod Bowen and Pablo had their spot-kicks saved by Lucas Perri, with Pascal Struijk sending Leeds into the semi-finals for the first time in 39 years.

This was only the second match between two Premier League sides in all competitions this season to see both teams attempt 20+ shots, after Newcastle against Bournemouth in the FA Cup back in January.

But West Ham return to league action next Friday as they welcome bottom club Wolves to London Stadium, knowing a win would, at least momentarily, see them leapfrog rivals Tottenham in the table.

Nuno’s side are given a 41.8% chance of remaining in the top flight by the Opta supercomputer, though the West Ham boss acknowledged the defeat would weigh heavy on his players before entertaining Rob Edwards’ team.

“It will take more time to recover. The legs go when you win and recover quicker,” Nuno told TNT Sports.

“We have the sadness and that will drag into this evening and tomorrow, but we have to react. We have important games, so we will keep fighting.”

West Ham had the better of the expected goals (xG) battle, finishing with a total of 2.91 from their 22 shots compared to Leeds’ tally of 2.38 from one fewer attempt at goal.

They were also forced into making a late change after goalkeeper Alphonse Areola sustained an injury in extra-time, with 20-year-old Finlay Herrick coming on to make his debut.

“It is sad the way it ended because, in the second half and in extra-time, we created chances that could have stopped it going to penalties,” Nuno added. “It’s sad, it’s tough.

“We saw from the fans what it meant to us to try and reach Wembley, but it wasn’t to be, so we have to rest in the best way we can and react for the next one.”

Nuno did, however, take the positives from the defeat, though he insisted that his team’s never-say-die attitude could only take them so far.

“That and the way we prove to ourselves that we can never give up,” Nuno said.

“The game is not done until the referee says so, and we have to take that into our future starting on Friday.”