Alfie Lewis says West Ham United’s U23 side will bounce back on Friday when they face Arsenal at London Stadium after Sunday’s disappointing 6-4 defeat to Manchester City at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.
The Hammers, who had Tunji Akinola sent off during the first half, were beaten in a freak match in east London in which Lewis bagged an injury time goal late on.
The midfielder was one of the bright sparks in a tricky afternoon for the hosts, who also bagged through Xande Silva, Josh Cullen and Oladapo Afolayan.
Lewis’ side now have five days to prepare for their first London Stadium clash of the campaign – against London rivals Arsenal on Friday – and the youngster is sure their performance will be better.
He said: “I think everyone is looking forward to it, to playing at London Stadium and we’re obviously expecting a tough game, but we want to bounce back. If we play like we did in the second half against City then we know we can score goals so everybody is excited for the game.
“It’s just about having a few days to recover and prepare and start thinking about the Arsenal game.”
The U23s’ coach Liam Manning bemoaned his team’s slow start against City as they found themselves 3-1 down at the break, and Lewis agreed with the boss’s sentiment.
We’re obviously expecting a tough game, but we want to bounce back. If we play like we did in the second half against City then we know we can score goals
Alfie Lewis
“To score four goals at home and still lose the game is pretty poor from us to be honest, even though we did have ten men,” he continued. “I don’t think we started the game well enough and we didn’t get our shape right and they punished us for that and then in the second half we were just catching up.
“That was the thing we tried to highlight, to start quick and get in their face and unfortunately we didn’t do that. That’s the frustrating thing, and the second half showed that the game was there for us, scoring four goals with ten men.
“It was tough for us in the middle after Tunji went off, and there was a lot of running for us in there. Josh [Cullen] is an experienced player though and it was good to play alongside him.”
After hitting the inside of the post earlier in the second half, Lewis turned in after Ben Johnson’s low shot rebounded off the goalkeeper, and though it was a disappointing result, the midfielder was pleased to get off the mark.
“I should have scored earlier in the game when I hit the inside of the post, and that could have changed the game. I have been trying to get in the box more because I am playing slightly further forward and more attacking at the moment, so obviously it was nice to get the goal.
“I think every time we scored and were one goal down, we tried to really go for the draw and obviously twice they hit us really quickly on the counter attack and scored straight away.”
To book your seats for the Hammers’ match against Arsenal at London Stadium on Friday (7pm kick-off), click here. Tickets are free for Season Ticket Holders and Claret Members, while they are £5 and £3 for all other adults and concessions respectively.