James Ward-Prowse was not making any excuses for West Ham United’s heavy Premier League defeat at Fulham on Sunday.
The Hammers travelled to Craven Cottage less than 72 hours after securing a superb 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur, but elation turned to disappointment as the visitors were beaten 5-0 in west London.
Ward-Prowse completed both games, scoring the winner at Tottenham, and was one of eight players who started three London derbies in the space of eight days, including the 1-1 home draw with Crystal Palace the previous Sunday.
However, the midfield said any suggestion that the schedule or tiredness played a part in Sunday’s defeat should be dismissed, as the players know how to rest and recover during a busy period of fixtures.
“It’s really frustrating,” he told Sky Sports. “When you have a result like that [which we achieved at Spurs] and have been on the run we’ve been on you want to continue it and to lose in the manner we did on Sunday wasn’t acceptable by our standards.
“And if we want to be the team that we want to be and be in that top half and challenging where we believe we can, we can't lose games like that, for sure.
“I don't believe that (the busy schedule) is the reason. I think we're all professionals, we all look after ourselves and make sure that we're in the best shape possible.
“There's no excuse for losing five-nil to Fulham full stop and we have to look at that and analyse it very quickly.”
West Ham return to action at London Stadium on Thursday 14 December at 8pm, when German Bundesliga side SC Freiburg are the visitors for a UEFA Europa League Group A decider, before hosting Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Sunday at 2pm.
