Nuno Espirito Santo held fellow Portuguese international, Pablo, in very high regard in January and in fact, he admired the forward so much that he convinced the club to sign the striker within two days of the window opening, certainly record-breaking for the Hammers.
West Ham made it to the fifth round in the FA Cup for the first time since the 2023/23 season, which would be the final round of the campaign that season after the club lost 3-1 to Manchester United.
After two favourable draws against QPR and Burton, both of which the Hammers went to extra time for, the draw for the Fifth Round has confirmed that West Ham will play Macclesfield or Brentford at the London Stadium.
The decision of who Nuno’s side will face shall be determined by the result tonight as Macclesfield host the Bees at 19:30 UK Time.
It may come as a surprise to some, but yes indeed against Burton, there was a gameplan and a set of tactics that Nuno sent the Hammers out with in an attempt to defeat Burton.
As anticipated, having a heavily rotated side which saw a handful of youth players along with second team players in, tactics weren’t going to be as smooth as expected, but unfortunately, that only came into reality once the game had kicked off.
Hammers embarked on a thrilling 90 minutes, which consisted of two penalty calls, one for each side, as well as a demonstration of how poor the Hammers can be without the introduction of key players.
Callum Wilson appeared to be struggling up top alone only managing a handful of touches with the best opportunity of the 90 coming through Mavropanos with a headed effort from the corner, but the keeper comfortably saved.
Burton: Collins, Godwin-Malife (C), Armer, Vancooten, McKiernan, Beesley, Shade, Evans, Lofthouse, Revan, Krubally
Subs: Dudek, Chauke, Sibbick, Tavares, Moon, Sraha, Larsson, Adom, Cannon
West Ham: Areola, Walker-Peters, Mavropanos (C), Kilman, Mayers, Scarles, Magassa, Kante, Lamadrid, Adama, Wilson
Subs: Herrick, Disasi, Taty, Diouf, Wan-Bissaka, Potts, Orford, Ajala
West Ham’s attempted fairytale escape continued to speak for itself as the Hammers continue to face atrocious luck spanning from the club’s own results to other sides, as well as a pitiful variety of dodgy VAR calls.
How NES’ spirit hasn’t been squashed for the Hammers so far is beyond extraordinary. The feeling of always being so close in games but always missing out is what has placed West Ham in this position.
The Hammers haven’t honed in on three points, it’s been yet another groaning game that resulted in the opposition scoring, but this one was the most heartbreaking of all. A miraculous seven minutes of added time came from thin air, as well as the Hammers breathing on Manchester’s Finest, all of which supposedly resulted in enough time for Manchester United to score.
West Ham: Hermansen, Wan-Bissaka, Disasi, Mavropanos, Diouf, Soucek, Fernandes, Bowen (C), Summerville, Taty, Potts
Subs: Areola, Pablo, Walker-Peters, Scarles, Wilson, Traore, Kilman, Kante, Magassa
Manchester United: Lammens, Dalot, Mainoo, Maguire, Martinez, Fernandes (C), Cunha, Amad, Casemiro, Mbuemo, Shaw
Subs: Bayindir, Heaven, Malacia, Mazraoui, Yoro, Fletcher, Ugarte, Sesko, Zirkzee
The Hammers have recently stepped up their efforts to make this Premier League relegation fight interesting, as with 13 matches to go, the gap has closed down to three points, meaning across the remaining fixtures, anything is able to happen.
Across the Hammers’ remaining 13, we find ourselves playing five of the current Top 6 and then just three relegation candidates, which include Leeds United on the final day of the season.
Manchester United (H), Liverpool (A), Manchester City (H), Aston Villa (A), Arsenal (H) + Wolves (H), Crystal Palace (A), Leeds (H).
At last! West Ham United achieved a 2-0 victory over a crucial relegation ‘six-pointer’, which has now cut down the gap to Nottingham Forest to just three points.
It was business as usual for the first half for the Hammers. A lovely dribble by Fernandes was followed by a slotted ball to Summerville, who dinked it in for 1-0. The goal was followed up by Malick Diouf, utilising his crossing ability, placing a brilliant cross to Taty, who scored his first Premier League goal for West Ham. Argentinian and a great escape? Fans have seen this before!