Former West Ham United striker Carlton Cole was actually disappointed by Nottingham Forest’s shock FA Cup defeat to Wrexham.
Only a few days after Nottingham Forest beat West Ham United in a crunch game at the bottom of the Premier League table, Sean Dyche’s side were dumped out of the FA Cup.
Forest lost a penalty shootout in Wales, leaving them with only the Premier League and the Europa League on which to focus for the remainder of the campaign.
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Though an FA Cup journey might not be the biggest priority for either West Ham or Forest right now, there are clearly benefits to them.
Cup progress could help inspire confidence and it’s hard to imagine any West Ham supporter taking a huge amount of relief if the team lose to QPR on Sunday, even if it does lighten the load in the schedule.
Still, Cole – who was watching on for talkSPORT – was gutted to see Forest go out.
Carlton Cole wanted Nottingham Forest to win to make life easier for West Ham
Cole is now West Ham’s Loans and Pathways manager.
The former striker, who scored 67 goals for the club in 293 appearances, naturally had his West Ham cap on when dissecting Forest’s surprise defeat.
When asked if it was a blessing in disguise for Forest amid their relegation battle, Cole said: “I think so, I think so.
“I was half thinking ‘please win it’. As a West Ham fan, I want an extra fixture for them, do you know what I mean? One for them to think about.
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“So it kind of fatigues their squad.”
When asked about how he viewed West Ham’s cup campaign, Cole said: “For me, it can go either way.
“I don’t mind if we were to get knocked out. It doesn’t look good, do you know what I mean? Because I want us to focus on getting points in the league, our bread and butter.
“I want to stay in the Premier League. We need points. A cup run would be beautiful when things are going hunky dory in the league. But when you’ve got one thing to worry about – which is staying in the league – that’s paramount.
“But then you can look at it like you can use these games as momentum if we do win it.”
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There is some logic into what Cole is saying, even if fans might not want to hear it.
However, little about West Ham’s Premier League form would suggest a turnaround is an inevitability even if they are indeed knocked out of the FA Cup.
It just isn’t going well enough to make that kind of decision. A defeat would only darken the mood even further.
Ahead of the game, the under-fire Nuno Espirito Santo stressed that the QPR clash merely represented a good chance for his team to actually win a game.
“It’s a good chance to win a football match, which is what we need,” he said during his pre-match press conference. “It would give us a lot of confidence, so we want to do well in a competition we respect a lot.”
Though Nuno is under pressure at West Ham and his words are unlikely to be well-received by supporters, it’s difficult to disagree with that particular point.
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