Hammers feast on Fulham gifts
Yesterday at 06:46 PM
Graham Potter couldn’t have wished for an easier opening night as the new West Ham manager at the London Stadium. Fulham, on a nine-match unbeaten run, gifted the Hammers three goals in a comedic defensive display and failed to make their periods of dominance pay as they lost a five-goal thriller in east London. Potter’s new side made light of the lack of a striker as Carlos Soler capitalised on a dreadful ball across his own box from Andreas Pereira to give the hosts the lead against the run of play, Tomas Soucek punished some sloppy Fulham defending to make it 2-0 minutes later before Lucas Paqueta pounced on a poor back pass to restore the two-goal lead after Alex Iwobi had halved the visitors’ arrears.
It left Marco SIlva seething silently on the touchline – but, in many ways, this was the story of Fulham’s season. The Portuguese head coach has taken his side further than many would have imagined following the departure of Joao Palhinha, but faced with another winnable fixture that might have put them in the European conversation, the Whites wilted. All three goals were dreadful examples of Fulham’s failure to play the percentages, but the first arrived after the visitors had enjoyed more of the ball and spurned several opportunities to take the lead.
Silva’s side – showing five changes from the strong eleven that saw off Watford in the FA Cup last Thursday – began brightly and might easily have been ahead in the fifth minute. Iwobi floated a cross in from the left that Harry Wilson cracked against the crossbar as he found a pocket of space in a crowded penalty area. Robinson then found himself free down the inside left channel after a flowing Fulham break but his shot flashed across the face of goal and wide.
At that point, the Hammers hadn’t even touched the ball in the Fulham penalty area. When they did through, Max Kilman, the ball ended up in Bernd Leno’s net – but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside after a lengthy VAR check. Fulham still seemed in control and there seemed little danger when Pereira collected the ball on the edge of his own box, but the Brazilian aimed a risky pass across the area and, with Leno out of position, gave Soler the simple task of slotting a sidefooted finish into the unguarded net.
That miscalculation was bad enough, but things got even worse two minutes later. Mohammed Kudus latched onto a long ball, played in Solar and the Spaniard’s cross reached Aaron Wan-Bissaka at the far post. The full back’s cut back was side-footed home by a gleefully Soucek – and the Hammers suddenly had conjured up a two-goal lead. Fulham still threatened themselves and Raul Jimenez nodded against the bar at the back post after heading Iwobi’s cross towards the net before the half-time whistle.
The visitors, no doubt fired up by a blunt Silva team talk, reduced the arrears within five minutes of the restart. Iwobi linked up with Robinson down the left and whipped in a cross that eluded Jimenez’s attempted flick, beat Lukasz Fabianski in the West Ham goal and ended up in the far corner. That forced Potter to introduce Danny Ings, who had scored West Ham’s equaliser in stoppage time at Craven Cottage last year. Within moments, Ings pressurised Bernd Leno as the goalkeeper pondered how to distribute the ball at the back and the German’s uncharacteristic error saw him feet only the feet of Paqueta, who rolled the easiest of finishes into the net.
Fulham were still putting a ropey West Ham defence under pressure and made a game of it again with twelve minutes left. The hard working Iwobi worked the space to deliver another dangerous cross, which Wilson tried and just failed to flick goalwards with his hard, but the ball beat a committed Fabianski and ended up nestling in the back of the net. That gave the visitors hope that they might nick something after all. Fabianski made a fine save to deny Jimenez and, two minutes into added time, substitute Josh King beat his man to deliver a cross from the by-line that was scrambled away from Jimenez and fell to Adama Traore at the back post. The Spaniard somehow blazed over from four yards out when it looked simpler to score – summing up a frustrating night at the Olympic Stadium for the Whites.
WEST HAM UNITED (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Wan-Bissaka, Emerson (Cresswell 81), Mavropanos, Kilman; Alvarez, Rodriguez (Scarles 81); Kudus (Ings 62), Soucek, Soler (Irving 72); Paqueta. Subs (not used): Foderingham, Coufal, Guilherme, Casey, Orford.
BOOKED: Paqueta, Soucek, Wan-Bissaka.
GOALS: Soler (31), Soucek (33), Paqueta (67).
FULHAM (4-2-3-1): Leno; Castagne, A. Robinson, Andersen, Bassey; Lukic, Pereira (Cairney 68); Wilson (King 85), Iwobi (Muniz 85), Smith Rowe (Traore 68); Jimenez. Subs (not used): Benda, R. Sessegnon, Diop, Cuenca, Reed.
BOOKED: Castagne, Lukic.
GOALS: Iwobi (51, 78).
REFEREE: Craig Pawson (Sheffield).
ATTENDANCE: 62,456.
