NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO\u00a0virtually conceded defeat in West Ham\u2019s relegation scrap \u2014 after Newcastle left them on the brink.<\/p>\n
The 3-1 loss for Nuno\u2019s side means they are\u00a0relying on Chelsea to beat rivals Tottenham to give them any chance of a final-day miracle at home to Leeds.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the Football<\/span> newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThank you!\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Spurs, two points ahead and with\u00a0a vastly better goal difference, need just\u00a0a point on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge, or at home to Everton on Sunday.<\/p>\n Away fans chanted \u201cyou\u2019re not fit to wear the shirt\u201d during the dismal defeat. <\/p>\n Nuno said: \u201cWhat we did was not enough for us in the fight that we have.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are still in it \u2014 but realising that it\u2019s extremely difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n \n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tREAD MORE PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n LISBON CALLING<\/p>\n Premier League manager, 48, agrees to replace Jose Mourinho as Benfica boss<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n TOP OF THE SLOTS<\/p>\n Best bet365 slots: Top 20 games for UK players in 2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Nick Woltemade got the opener before Will Osula celebrated the first of his double by donning a glove in a\u00a0Michael Jackson tribute.<\/p>\n Sub Taty Castellanos got a stunning consolation \u2014 but Irons fans vented their anger in the closing stages.<\/p>\n Nuno added: \u201cI understand they are frustrated and disappointed with what they saw\u00a0\u2014 with reason.\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cA team that has been struggling through the season, but with better attitude and more fighting spirit, so when the fans don\u2019t see it they show their frustrations.\u201d<\/p>\n CASINO SPECIAL \u2013 BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM \u00a310 DEPOSITS<\/strong><\/p>\n Nuno\u2019s decision to start with wing-backs backfired spectacularly as Toon surged into a 2-0 lead before defender Jean-Clair Todibo was hooked in place of striker Castellanos after just 26 minutes.<\/p>\n Hammers midfielder Mateus Fernandes said: \u201cThe first 20 minutes was so painful for us.<\/p>\n \u201cWe trained all week to do one thing and we arrived here and didn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is our responsibility and we need to do much better. Since the first day it is the players who decide the games.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone needs to take responsibility for this moment and be a man. It is very hard to think about the future. It is difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything can happen. Hopefully Spurs lose against Chelsea and in the last match we go with everything. We have to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n Captain Jarrod Bowen, now without a goal in 13 Prem games, said: \u201cThings obviously don\u2019t look great, we have to accept that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are holding on by a small thread but we are still holding on.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to see how the result goes on Tuesday, there\u2019s a chance that we are relegated then and we can\u2019t hide from it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never want to be relying on teams but we have put ourselves in this position. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have created this mess and we have to be big enough to watch it and accept what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n The win kept alive Toon\u2019s slim hopes of qualifying for the Conference League after in-form Osula took his tally to five goals in his last six Prem games.<\/p>\n Boss Eddie Howe, whose side head to Fulham on Sunday, said: \u201cHe\u2019s really growing and improving all the time.<\/p>\n \u201cTo lead the line for Newcastle isn\u2019t\u00a0easy. There is a lot of pressure, expectation and responsibility that comes with that.<\/p>\n \u201cI still feel he has got a lot to come which is really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO\u00a0virtually conceded defeat in West Ham\u2019s relegation scrap \u2014 after Newcastle left them…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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