FULHAM – RUNNING ON EMPTY
West Ham United 3 Fulham 1
The news that we all receive with embarrassed joy is that Mitrovic will not be starting for Fulham this afternoon. You know, the one who scores in every game, although even he rarely scores in the ones he doesn’t appear in.
Moyes has made the necessary team adjustment to start with Scamacca, alongside the speed and thrust of Jarrod Bowen. Downes is probably a little unlucky not to make the cut after his showing in Anderlecht, but that bench looks like it could give it a go themselves. A happy daze.
The first test of the Weebly Hammers (wobble, but they don’t fall down) comes in the fifth minute when, from out on the left in the Masuaku / Dinamo Zagreb position, Andreas Pereira hits in a dipping shot which clears Fabianski’s outstretched right arm and drops into the corner of the net. Even the PA Announcer (ahem) takes fifteen seconds to announce it – we later find out it’s a problem with the mike. Before fifteen minutes have elapsed, Fulham’s Dan James hits the bar from twenty yards out with Fabianski flapping again. Fulham are flying. Not a great start for the home side.
Hammers finally gather their shirt tails and begin to knock the ball around. Paquetá, adjusting to the pace of the PL, looks more impressive each game he plays. Scamacca should have had a hat trick over the next ten minutes, but screws the ball wide, has a header blocked and another brilliantly saved by Rodák.
The equaliser then arrives along an unexpected route, Dawson floored by Pereira from Bowen’s corner. Third floor.
Bowen himself tucks the penalty away after some shameless gamesmanship time wasting from Fulham. And that’s how it remains until half-time.
The second half demonstrates more evidence of the pitch being Paquetá’s playground. Twenty minutes in and Hammers fashion the chance that Scamacca has been waiting for, his chip over Rodák dropping perfectly into the goal behind him. VAR is troubled for a possible offside and then a handball, but they eventually run out of reasons to disallow it so the goal stands.
With ten minutes to go, Antonio is on for Scamacca. The fresh legs add something to the attacking mix and Fulham end the game massively on the back foot. As injury time beckons, Hammers’ number 9 eases through to place the ball into the back of the net after the goalkeeper and defender collide. After another lengthy VAR enquiry, the goal stands. It’s a final score that flatters ludicrously, but few of the fans left in the stadium complain.
Memories momentarily tail back to ‘My Panenka’ – the knack of that terrible injury time penalty from Ademola Lookman that could have rescued Fulham in the November 2020 midweek six pointer, thankfully now just a passing memory. The games over the next fortnight may yet have the Hammers climbing up the table towards a third successive European spot for next year’s campaign.
1 Lucasz Fabianski, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 4 Kurt Zouma, 15 Craig Dawson, 24 Thilo Kehrer, 28 Tomas Souček, 8 Pablo Fornals, 11 Lucas Paquetá, 7 Gianluca Scamacca, 41 Declan Rice (captain), 20 Jarrod Bowen
Substitutes: 9 Michail Antonio, 33 Emerson, 12 Flynn Downes
Goalscorers: Jarrod Bowen (penalty), Gianluca Scamacca, Michail Antonio
