Before The Whistle: Fulham v West Ham United
Written by Drew Heatley on 9th December 2023
A midweek fixture takes you back to the frenetic pace of the Championship, but we’re back in Premier League action against West Ham.
And we should be going into this game full of confidence after our showing on Wednesday. The Hammers got a huge victory against Spurs in North London too, so they’ll come to the Cottage feeling like they should bag all three points.
As expected, our injury list hasn’t really progressed since Wednesday, though Silva notes he’ll make a final call on Adama Troare and Rodrigo Muniz closer to the game.
They’d both have to settle for a place on the bench anyway; with 11 goals in our last three games, including two from a revived Raul Jimenez, our attacking options are finally starting to show their true talent following 10 goals in our previous 12 games.
Tosin came in alongside Bassey against Forest and though they admittedly didn’t have a huge amount to do, they kept a clean sheet. So that’ll continue. At right-back, Silva resisted the urge to push Kenny Tete too hard, despite his impressive Anfield showing. It remains to be seen if he’ll be back in on Sunday.
One man who will surely keep his place, despite having a similar requirement for managed minutes, is Tom Cairney. Our captain has been too influential of late to be ignored. Another influential character is Andreas Pereira, who showed on Forest that he can be the creative force we so desperately need in the 10.
Since our return from the international break we’ve looked mustard. The Hammers, while impressive, aren’t a millions miles away in terms of points on the board or places in the table. So we should be aiming for the maximum on Sunday. You Whites.
ℹ️ MATCH DETAILS
Kick-Off: Sunday, 2.00PM
Stadium: Craven Cottage
Competition: Premier League
TV Channel (UK): None
🚦 LEAGUE FORM
Fulham: ⬜ ❌ ❌ ✅ ❌ ✅
West Ham: ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅ ⬜ ✅
⚖️ MATCH PROBABILITY
Fulham: 36.5%
Draw: 29.2%
West Ham: 34.3%
🥊 MOST RECENT MATCHES
Apr 23: Fulham 0-1 West Ham
Oct 22: West Ham 3-1 Fulham
Feb 21: Fulham 1-1 West Ham
Nov 20: West Ham 1-0 Fulham
🎙 NEW PODCAST: Better Call Raúl
A look back at Wednesday’s rout of Forest, and can we kick-on against West Ham?
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