West Ham come from behind to beat London rivals Fulham 3-1, making it back-to-back wins for the Hammers.
Poor Start from the Hammers
It was a slow start for West Ham as Fulham led after five minutes with Andreas Pereira scoring from a tight angle over the head of Lukasz Fabianski.
Shortly after, forward Daniel James took a powerful shot outside the box, but was very unfortunate and he hit the cross bar.
However, Pereira transformed from the visitor’s hero into their villain as he was adjudged to have fouled Craig Dawson inside the box just before the half hour mark. Jarrod Bowen slotted away the penalty for his second league goal of the season.
Scamacca Can’t Stop Scoring
The Hammers then took control of the game and went ahead midway through the second half with Gianluca Scamacca latching on to Lucas Paquetá’s chipped pass and lobbing the ball over Bernd Leno. Scamacca had missed several good chances earlier in the game, but his sixth goal in all competitions was confirmed after a lengthy VAR check.
The Italian was replaced with 10 minutes to go by Michail Antonio, who scored West Ham’s third of the afternoon. The Fulham keeper and Tim Ream failed to clear the ball after Antonio’s initial strike was saved, leaving the Jamaican an open goal to strike to ball into.
Where Does This Leave Both Teams?
This result moves West Ham up to 13th in the table on 10 points, only one point behind Fulham who sit 9th in the Premier League.
Moyes Very Impressed With his Side
After the match, West Ham manager David Moyes said his team showed “big character” to respond after a slow start.
“They started well, they had a great start with a goal and hitting the bar. We probably only came alive once they hit the bar on the second one. A win in the Premier League, whoever you are playing, is really difficult. After Thursday night and going a goal behind, the boys showed really big character.”
Onwards and Upwards for West Ham
West Ham started the season slowly winning just one of their first seven league games. But now, partly thanks to a 100% winning start in the Europa Conference League, Moyes’ side seems to have turned a corner winning five of their last six games in all competitions.
“We are going in the right direction but there are still bits of it that I need to get better… We’re beginning to get people back, we are beginning to feel as if we are getting a bit of rhythm. There are signs that we are creating a few more chances.”
Stats
Possession: West Ham (50.3%) Fulham (49.7%)
Shots on target: West Ham (8) Fulham (2)
Shots: West Ham (17) Fulham (8)
Corners: West Ham (4) Fulham (2)
Offside: West Ham (1) Fulham (2)
Yellow Cards: West Ham (1) Fulham (3)
Man of the Match: Jarrod Bowen
What’s next?
West Ham will have their third home game in a row on Thursday when they host Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League, before travelling to Southampton on Sunday for a 2pm kick off at the St Mary’s Stadium.
Image by jorono from Pixabay
