Fulham 5 West Ham 0
In-form Fulham welcomed David Moyes’ West Ham to Craven Cottage for this London derby. Marco Silva’s side just cannot stop scoring at the moment, even when they lose. The Cottagers’ faithful were hoping for another deluge of goals in this one.
Kudus won an early free kick for the visitors as he battled to gain some ground in the middle of the park. Despite being 35-yards out, Ward-Prowse went for goal from the set piece, forcing Leno into a smart save to keep the scores level.
Jarrod Bowen was the next player to test the Fulham keeper but his shot from the edge of the box did not have enough pace to test Leno for the hosts. David Moyes will have been pleased with the start his side had made to the game.
Fulham then started to pass the ball around, taking advantage of the lack of pressing from the visitors. Palhinha then clipped a cross into the box which was headed into the top corner by Raul Jimenez to give the hosts the lead.
Credit: @FulhamFC
Willian was starting to tease West Ham with his close control and skills, laying it off to Iwobi, whose shot from the edge of the box drew the save from Fabianski. Fulham recycled the ball and crossed it into the box for the former Chelsea player to make it two-nil.
Bowen had a chance to get the visitors back into the game but didn’t really catch his volley well and it led to a routine save for Leno. The disappointment on the West Ham talisman’s face showed that even he felt he was better than that.
The Cottagers came forward once again and as the ball dropped to Iwobi his shot was deflected inches wide of the post for a corner with Fabianski wrong-footed. As the following set-piece came in, Tosin rose above everyone to head home and make it three for the hosts.
Marco Silva’s words at half-time must have been, just keep doing what you’re doing, and they duly delivered. They continued to put The Hammers on the back foot and as Wilson picked it up on the right, he cut inside and drilled a left-footed shot into the top corner.
This was turning into a nightmare afternoon in West London for West Ham. While they had created some opportunities themselves, Fulham looked like scoring every time they came forward, as their defence had no reply to the attacking onslaught.
By this stage, it was just one way traffic. The away fans early chants of ‘champions of Europe, we know what we are’ had drowned out to the sound of the home fans celebrating goal after goal. At least the trip home wasn’t going to be a long one to dwell over this defeat.
Credit: @premierleague
The hosts weren’t finished yet as Reed’s ball over the top caught West Ham’s high defensive line out once again. Wilson ran onto it, with only the keeper to beat, but unselfishly squared it to Carlos Vinicius to roll it into the net.
Fulham continued their impressive run, capped off with another three points. Marco Silva was pleased that his team were carrying out his instructions on the pitch and long may it continue. David Moyes wrote the game off as a ‘bad day at the office’ and moves on to their next game.
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