West Ham United and Graham Potter have been awarded the Utilita Performance of the Week award for the valiant Premier League display against Fulham, which led to a valuable 3-2 victory.
The League Managers Association’s panel, comprising Martin O’Neill OBE, Sir Alex Ferguson CBE, Chris Hughton, Rachel Yankey, Les Ferdinand MBE, Clare Tomlinson, Jess Creighton, Stuart Pearce MBE and Barry Fry, met to discuss the midweek performances across the top four divisions.
And they determined that the Hammers’ victory over the Cottagers, giving Potter a welcome victory on his first top-flight game in charge, was deserving of the Performance of the Week award.
A quickfire first-half double from Carlos Soler and Tomáš Souček saw West Ham take a commanding lead into the break before Alex Iwobi gave Fulham a lifeline early in the second half.
Lucas Paquetá restored our two-goal cushion in the 67th minute before Iwobi struck again with ten minutes left to provide a glimmer of hope, but the Hammers held on for a morale-boosting victory.
After the game, Potter said: “It was a very, very committed performance. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but the attitude, the effort and the willingness to fight for each other was certainly there.
“It's a great foundation for us to build on. We can improve on lots of things. We were proactive with our pressing. We were proactive with our defensive idea to try and create some chances.
“We moved Mo [Kudus] a little bit up, and he helped us. Aaron [Wan-Bissaka] was more aggressive. Konstantinos [Mavropanos] was aggressive. So they were really, really good, and I think that helped us get a couple of goals in the first half. That was a nice foundation to start the game as well.
“It was great, it was stressful, it was exciting, it was frustrating. It was all those emotions, but that's what we're here for.”
Potter received the award at Rush Green on Friday, as his team prepared for the visit of Crystal Palace at London Stadium.
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