West Ham United manager David Moyes hit out at the Premier League schedule after his side’s relegation fears deepened with a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.
Moyes was not happy his side had been asked to play twice in four days while Tottenham had enjoyed an extra day’s rest.
West Ham were beaten 2-0 at home by Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday as the Premier League restarted after a three-month shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Tottenham drew 1-1 with Manchester United on Friday.
“I told the Premier League that we don’t play for eight days (after Tuesday), why could we not have played Wednesday or Thursday night,” he told reporters.
“It’s a terrible decision from the Premier League and the broadcasters haven’t helped either.”
The 92 remaining top-flight fixtures are being squeezed into five weeks, with every game live on television because fans cannot attend stadiums. Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho sympathised.
“To be honest, I don’t think it’s fair for West Ham to come here with 24 hours less to prepare than us. At the moment it is not nice,” he told reporters.
Moyes was also unhappy with Tottenham’s opening goal, an own goal by Tomas Soucek. Moyes said the ball had hit the arm of Davinson Sanchez before going in off Soucek.
“I can’t believe that they’ve ruled that as a goal,” he said. “Whoever it was on VAR didn’t do their job right.”
Defeat left West Ham hovering above the relegation trapdoor with only a superior goal difference keeping them above Bournemouth who will rise above West Ham if they avoid defeat at Wolves on Wednesday.
Since Moyes arrived to replace sacked Manuel Pellegrini, West Ham have won just two of 12 Premier League games, and with Chelsea to play next, they are in desperate trouble.
