West Ham secured their place in the FA Cup quarter finals on Monday night, defeating fellow Premier League side Brentford in the process. The Hammers were made to work for their victory, with the Bee’s taking them all the way to penalties, where West Ham won the lottery in some style.
Jarrod Bowen, who scored twice in the game, duly smashed his spot kick home before Callum Wilson, Tomas Soucek, Valentin Castellanos and Konstantinos Mavropanos all followed suit to send Nuno Espirto Santo’s team through.
Soucek’s penalty was just as impressive as his teammates and he spoke to the club’s official website, giving the reason why he think’s West Ham’s penalties were so good:
“This is something that we really wanted,” the 31-year-old said. “We are so happy with how we’ve been doing in the last few games in the Premier League, and we wanted to continue the momentum as well as give the fans some nice moments.
“We knew the style that Brentford have played with for quite a while, and it’s difficult to play against them because they’re a really good team. It was a tough game, and even tougher to play 120 minutes, but it was great that Jarrod scored the two goals, and then winning on penalties is nice.
“We practiced penalties yesterday (Sunday). We were good at it, and we showed it today because they were unbelievable penalties. Shootouts are always difficult for goalkeepers, so it was nice that Alphonse [Areola] saved one as well, and we’re all delighted to have got through.”
Onto the next challenge for West Ham
The win takes West Ham through, setting up a quarter final tie with Leeds United. For the Hammers though, it is back to their survival fight in the Premier League, as the team host’s title chasing Manchester City.
Whilst it’s a big challenge, three points would lift the Irons out of the bottom three and go a long way to keeping the side up this season.
“Wembley would be great! I’ve played there twice against England with Czechia, and to have half of it full with West Ham fans would be unbelievable.
“That would be crazy, but we know we are still far away from that, and first we have to be ready for the challenge back in the Premier League. I believe we have really good momentum, and we’re playing really well at the moment so we’re full of confidence.
“We know the fans have our back, so even though Manchester City are a great side, we will go into that game looking for the win. We know we’ve had lots of tough moments this season, but we’re looking to end it in the best way, and we’ll be looking forward to going again.”
