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Nuno Espirito Santo has defended his eyebrow-raising West Ham United XI in the FA Cup quarter-final with Leeds; Max Kilman, Adama Traore and Soungoutou Magassa all coming in.
The Hammers are without Crysencio Summerville again for the visit of Daniel Farke’s side. Konstantinos Mavropanos suffered a head injury on Greece duty, meanwhile, robbing Nuno Espirito Santo of two of his most in-form players.
So while Nuno’s XI has not gone down well with many home fans, the West Ham United boss is keen to point out that this was a team selection borne out of necessity.
What stands out to you about West Ham’s line up?
Should Nuno have gone stronger?
West Ham United host Leeds with Max Kilman and Alphonse Areola starting
“Unfortunately we had some issues [on the injury front, but] it is always good to have international players going to their international teams and achieving big things,” Nuno told TNT Sports.
“We had players that were not available and some who are still recovering, but we are positive. At this moment of the season, all the players are important.”
It was no surprise to see Alphonse Areola replace Mads Hermansen. Areola is Nuno’s cup keeper, and therefore retains his spot having saved that awful Dango Ouattara Panenka during the fifth round penalty shoot-out victory over Brentford.
And while there are some who would have preferred to see Ezra Mayers and Mohamadou Kante start ahead of the much-maligned Kilman and the inconsistent Magassa, those untimely injuries arguably say more about the depth of West Ham’s squad than it does Nuno’s decision-making.
There is no word on why Callum Wilson is not involved, however. Mavropanos was at Rush Green on Friday, though it appears that the Hammers have decided not to take any risks after he was forced to miss Greece’s 1-0 defeat by Paraguay.
“It’s going to be quite tough and very, very demanding on us. [Leeds] are a good team,” Nuno adds.
“It’s a big game for all of us and for our fans, so we have to give our best so we can deliver. We are positive, and the players want to play the game.”
West Ham have not reached the FA Cup semis since 2006, when they lost to Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium in one of the most thrilling finals of all-time.
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