West Ham 3-1 Fulham 
by Paul Donovan
at the London Stadium

WEST HAM’S steady climb up the table continued on Sunday afternoon, with a hard fought victory over Fulham at the London Stadium.

It was Fulham, though, who struck first, after just four minutes, with Neeskens Kebano breaking down the left to put Andreas Pereira away to fire home into the roof of the net.

Pereira then almost made it two, as Lukasz Fabianski punched out his swerving free kick.Then, Daniel James saw his shot rock back off the bar. Gianluca Scamacca almost levelled, seeing his downward header from a Lucas Paqueta cross, saved low down by Bernd Leno.

Scamacca, then. repeated the header routine, with this time Bowen failing to put away the bounce back from the keeper. West Ham though drew level on the half hour, when Pereira wrestled Craig Dawson to the ground as a corner came over. Jarrod Bowen duly converted the resulting penalty.

West Ham pressure in the second half eventually  paid off, when a ball form Declan Rice was controlled and fed through by Paqueta to Scammaca in the penalty area. The big striker controlled the ball and lobbed over Leno. After a lengthy VAR investigation, first for offside, then handball, the goal was allowed.

Fulham's best second half effort came from Tom Cairney, who saw his effort from the edge of the penalty area blocked by Aaron Cresswell. The game was finally made safe for the Hammers in injury time, as substitute Michail Antonio ran in behind the Fulham defense, first seeing his effort saved by Leno but then when the ball fell for him again, he made space to fire home.

West Ham manager David Moyes only felt his side came alive, after James hit the bar. And it is those margins that can be vital, said Moyes, who was full of praise for Scammaca.

“We've got a young centre forward, who is doing really well. His finishing and composure on the ball are very good,” said Moyes, who is excited by the partnership developing with Paqueta. 

Fulham manager Marco Silva felt his team were on top until the West Ham penalty.

He believes his team needs to show greater maturity. "It won't be an easy journey for us," said Silva.