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A victorious Nuno Espirito Santo was relieved to see West Ham United right the set-piece wrongs of their Liverpool debacle during a hard-fought 1-0 Premier League win at Fulham on Wednesday night.
While Nuno felt the Hammers could take a lot of ‘positives’ away from Anfield, Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister all scored from dead ball situations in the opening 45 minutes of a 5-2 defeat.
There would be no repeat at Craven Cottage though. While West Ham United had their goalkeeper to thank – Mads Hermansen was in ‘brilliant’ form, making an outstanding late save from Josh King – Nuno was just pleased to see that all the hard work on the training pitch had paid off.
Who was your MOTM against Fulham and why? 🤔
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images Nuno Espirito Santo delighted as West Ham United secure a clean sheet at Fulham
“It was a long, long week in that aspect [fixing our set-piece issues],” Nuno told TNT Sports following a win which draws the Hammers level on points with 17th place Nottingham Forest.
“But we assessed the situation and we did well.
“We are improving game by game. Results like the Liverpool match can happen, but the players are working very hard. We just have to focus on ourselves and keep going.
Photo by Tiego Grenho/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
“Clean sheets are [important] for all of us. I think Mads played a good game today; he helped us, and a clean sheet is always our goal. We have to stay compact and not allow many chances, because the talent our opponents have can make the difference.”
West Ham still have the poorest set-piece record in the division but, that Liverpool collapse aside, they have been much improved in this department over recent months. That is why Nuno was so disappointed on Merseyside. All that progress thrown away in one error-strewn first-half.
Beating Fulham, and keeping a fourth clean sheet of the season, went a long way to righting those wrongs.
“It was a very difficult match,” Nuno smiled. “The boys gave it their all. [Craven Cottage] is a tough place to come and Fulham are a tough team. Even after they made their substitutions, they became stronger and fought until the end.
“This result means a lot to us and to our fans. They were huge today and the support they gave us was incredible.”
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Credit: Getty Images/Chris Brunskill/Fantasista Jean-Clair Todibo justifies his place ahead of Konstantinos Mavropanos
Jean-Clair Todibo excelled alongside Axel Disasi; the two France internationals playing together for the first time at the back.
This was Todibo’s first start since his red card at Stamford Bridge. Stepping in for Konstantinos Mavropanos, the former Barcelona man read the game impeccably while also using his trademark line-breaking passes to beat Fulham’s press.
At the other end, wingers Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville combined to score the only goal of the game in the 65th minute.
Bamboozling Sander Berge with a shimmy that would not look out of place on a Broadway stage, Summerville netted his fifth Premier League goal since January 17th after a breakdown in communication between Bernd Leno and Fulham defender Calvin Bassey.
“[Summerville] is in a very good moment right now, full of confidence and helping the team a lot,” Nuno added.
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