Zabaleta apologises for West Ham humbling at Oxford

London: West Ham United’s veteran defender Pablo Zabaleta apologised to the club’s fans after the Hammers were humiliated in a 4-0 away defeat by third-tier Oxford United in the League Cup third round on Wednesday.

A 2-0 win over Manchester United lifted West Ham to fifth in the Premier League on Sunday but they were outclassed by a side 12th in League One.

West Ham managed only three attempts on target and conceded four times after the 55th minute with Elliott Moore, Matty Taylor, Tariqe Fosu and Shandon Baptiste on target at a rocking Kassam Stadium.

“Sorry to the away fans who came to the game because obviously we don’t want our fans to see this kind of performance,” Zabaleta, who was captain for the night, told the club’s website.

“If you look at the performance tonight, it’s not been anywhere near our standard and also in the way we lost was not good. It was just a bad night.”