West Ham boss Sam Allardyce would rather not be enjoying a week off but have the opportunity to get a 1-0 defeat at Everton out of their system. The Hammers will be restricted to a spectator role this weekend because of Hull's involvement in the FA Cup quarter finals.
He said on the club's official website: "We'd have liked to have another game, which would have been our chance to overcome the Everton defeat and get another victory.
"We have to be patient. Everybody's going to get fitter and they'll be able to get ready and excited for the away game at Stoke City.
"The players are all very disappointed that we have lost our undefeated run but Everton are a good side and we just got slaughtered when we played there last season and were fortunate to come away with a 2-0 defeat.
"On Saturday we were very close to getting a point and the only disappointment was our final third play wasn't good enough to cause Everton the problems that we should have done."
