Leeds United got one over on their Premier League relegation rivals in the FA Cup on Sunday.
West Ham dangerman Adama Traore believes Premier League survival is still possible despite a morally damaging FA Cup penalty-shootout defeat to Leeds United.
Traore proved to be West Ham’s main attacking threat on Sunday in the absence of injured Crysencio Summerville, with his pace and direct running a problem for Leeds defenders. He did end up on the losing side, however, as Daniel Farke’s men won 4-2 on penalties following a 2-2 draw.
Leeds were two goals up and cruising going into added-time of normal time, with goals from Ao Tanaka and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. But two late concessions sent the game to extra-time and despite plenty of drama, no further goals were scored as Traore came off and it went to penalties.
Despite the rollercoaster nature of their win, Leeds will hope to take momentum and confidence from Sunday into their Premier League survival race. They have seven games left to maintain what is currently a four-point gap on their weekend FA Cup hosts, who are 18th.
"I'm sad because of how we lost but we have to take the positives from the game," Traore told PA. "We showed great fighting spirit and fought until the end. It's unfortunate that we lost on penalties but we'll try to improve and be better in our next game.
“We need to move on because this game is now already in the past. I believe we can stay up and the feeling would've been better if it was a win, but there were positives."
Traore and his West Ham teammates will need to pick themselves up quickly, given they have a mammoth Premier League clash at home to Wolves on Friday. Victory would pull them to within one point of Leeds, albeit the Whites will have a game in hand to be played at Manchester United on Monday.
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With 120 minutes in the legs and nothing to show for it, Friday against Traore’s former clubs will be a real test of character for West Ham. And their captain Jarrod Bowen also turned focus quickly onto survival following their defeat to Leeds.
“It hurts tonight,” he said. “But when it comes to tomorrow we have to go back in, recover, and then look forward to Wolves on Friday night because that’s going to be a massive game.
“We have to put in a performance like we did in the second half and in extra-time today, and we’re going to need everyone. We know the atmosphere the fans created today, and we know everyone’s going in the right direction, so we’ll be ready to go again.”
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