Jarrod Bowen has admitted that West Ham crashing out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of Tottenham last night came as a ‘real kick in the teeth’ after their superb start to the season.

David Moyes’ side, who are pushing for the Champions League spots in the Premier League, travelled across London for the derby, but found themselves exiting the competition after a 2-1 defeat.

And in-form forward Bowen, who played all 90 minutes of the quarter-final tie, has opened up on the effect the knockout has had.

‘The fight was there and we expect that – it’s a derby,’ he said, via West Ham’s official website. ‘The fans expect that, we expect that as players and I think we did that.

‘We’re just disappointed with the goals we conceded, especially conceding so quickly after we equalised.

‘It was a real kick in the teeth but in the second half I thought we were much better. We were in their half a lot and on another day we probably get a ball bouncing in their box or one of the shots goes in.

‘There are a lot of positives but ultimately we’re out of the cup which is disappointing for us.’

Steven Bergwijn opened the scoring in the clash on 29 minutes, in what was his first start under Antonio Conte, but Bowen netted the equaliser just three minutes later.

But soon after, Spurs re-took the lead, Lucas Moura beating Alphonse Areola. That proved to be the decisive strike, too, meaning West Ham were dumped out.

Attentions now turn to their hectic festive fixture list, with games against Southampton, Watford and Crystal Palace to come.

Bowen believes this run is the perfect opportunity for the Hammers to bounce back.

‘We’ve been really defensively solid for 18 months now, but it happens in games.

‘There are no fingers pointed – we win as a team and lose as a team and we’ll dust ourselves down as we’ve got a busy Christmas schedule coming up now with a lot of games and a lot of points that we can pick up.’

The result extended to four the club’s winless streak, which saw them lose to Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League, as well as Arsenal in Premier League action.

Bowen has admitted that the standards have dropped in recent weeks, but is adamant that supporters will soon see a change in fortunes.

‘Our levels recently have not been at the standards we’ve set, not just this season but last season as well,’ he said.

‘With the group we’ve got and the manager we’ve got we want to be at the highest level we can be all the time, so dropping below our levels, we knew as a team and as players tonight was all about changing that.’