West Ham United v Fulham
Barclays Premier League
Boleyn Ground
Saturday 2 October 2010
Kick-off: 3pm
Referee: Andre Marriner
Final score - West Ham United 1-1 Fulham
94 mins - Last chance as Boa Morte is impeded by Salcido... Schwarzer punches the ball clear of the penalty area. After a bit of interplay in the midfield, the final whistle is blown. Fulham remain unbeaten, while West Ham are unfortunately back on the bottom of the table, despite extending their own unbeaten run to four matches. The Hammers return to action after the international break with a trip to second-bottom Wolves.
92 mins - Gera twists and turns past Gabbidon, but Upson is there to make a fine block.
91 mins - Kamara should win it for Fulham, but doesn't. West Ham give possession away in midfield and the substitute races clear with only Green to beat, but he shoots way too high. Poor effort. Fulham replace Davies with Riise.
90 mins - Drama late on here. Cole jumps high and challenges Schwarzer. The ball drops to Obinna, who crosses towards Piquionne, but Hughes does brilliantly to flick the ball out from inside his own six-yard box.
88 mins - They almost do as Cole holds off Gera and Hughes before finding Parker, but the midfielder's shot is into the side-netting.
87 mins - Green shows why Clemence is here to watch him with a miraculous save to keep out Etuhu's header. West Ham need to sort themselves out quickly or they will lose this.
86 mins - Appeals for handball against Davies, but nothing is given. The midfielder takes advantage shoots powerfully from 25 yards, forcing Green to push the ball aside for a corner. It is a poor one, though, and Piquionne heads clear.
84 mins - Come on West Ham, let's see something special in the closing minutes.
81 mins - Brilliant from Piquionne, who holds off Salcido before playing a one-two with Boa Morte. The No30 then finds Obinna, but his fellow forward can only flash his drive wide of the near post.
78 mins - West Ham are living on their nerves here. Baird crosses and Etuhu is completely unmarked, but he cannot direct his header on target.
77 mins - Kamara is on for Johnson. Boa Morte is fouled and referee Marriner gives a free-kick, much to the delight of the home supporters. Noble takes the free-kick and Da Costa wins it, but his header bounces harmlessly into the grasp of Schwarzer at his near post.
75 mins - Obinna runs at Baird and gets the ball on to his left foot, but his shot is high and not very handsome. Maybe he should have crossed there.
74 mins - Fulham look by far the more likely scorers at the moment. Salcido drills a cross in from the left, which Da Costa completely misses. Baird has the ball again, but his cross is diverted wide of the near post by the sliding Gera.
72 mins - Dempsey is involved again, but this time his header from Baird's fine right-wing cross bounces about a foot wide of the post. The chance was created by an Obinna foul on Davies.
71 mins - Gera is next to show, but his 30-yard effort is wayward. Very wayward.
70 mins - Cole is involved immediately, spinning away from Hughes and running into the penalty area. Unfortunately, his touch is a little heavy and his cross-shot weak and far too close to Schwarzer.
69 mins - Barrera is replaced by Cole. I wonder if this will mean a change back to 4-4-2? Piquionne has looked a bit isolated in the last ten minutes. Fulham replace Duff with Zoltan Gera.
67 mins - West Ham have lost their way a little bit here and Jacobsen concedes a corner. Duff takes and Piquionne clears at the near post.
66 mins - The free-kick is lofted into the box by Duff and falls to Johnson, who can only poke his left-foot shot well wide from about 12 yards. He should have hit the target there.
65 mins - Upson is booked for a foul on...Dempsey.
62 mins - Gabbidon concedes a free-kick. Duff takes and Da Costa heads clear before Noble hacks the ball upfield.
59 mins - Better this time from Gabbidon, who gets forward down the left and wins a corner. Noble's delivery isn't great and even though Parker heads the ball back to the No16, his shot is blocked and cleared. Johnson is one on one with Jacobsen, but the right-back holds the striker up before blocking his shot. Fulham keep the pressure on, but Noble works back and clears for a throw.
58 mins - Brilliant from Green. Upson and Gabbidon both hesitate and fail to deal with the bouncing ball, allowing Dempsey to get in behind, but Green is out swiftly to block the American's poke goalwards.
55 mins - Jacobsen is penalised for tugging back a Fulham player. Murphy takes, but his free-kick is over-hit and flies behind.
54 mins - West Ham's tails are up here. Piqionne breaks clear down the inside-left channel. He decides to power the bouncing ball towards goal, but it bounces well wide.
53 mins - Oh dear! Da Costa heads Duff's free-kick clear and Obinna finds Barrera in acres of space. Obinna and Boa Morte scamper forward, but Barrera instead cuts inside and shoots wildly wide. Shame.
52 mins - The stadium has come alive with that goal. Piquionne nearly gets in again seconds later, but cannot control and Hangeland is able to clear.
51 mins - GOAL! Better! Piquionne scores for the second straight home game with a powerful downward header from six yards. Boa Morte picked up a loose clearance before sliding the ball inside right for Obinna. The No33 picked out his partner with a superb first-time cross and Piqionne made no mistake.
49 mins - West Ham come back with a bit of possession in the Fulham half, but it comes to nothing. Too often, possession has been squandered...
48 mins - Gabbidon gives the ball away needlessly and it nearly leads to a second goal. Johnson gets a bit of luck when the ball flicks back to him off the Welshman, but there is nothing lucky about Dempsey's dipping shot that kisses the top of the crossbar on the way over.
46 mins - After one false-start, Fulham get us back up and running. It looks like West Ham have switched to a 4-3-3 formation. Barrera is wide left, Obinna wide right and Piquionne through the middle on his own. Boa Morte has tucked in as one of three midfielders.
No changes from either side at the break. Fulham will kick-off through Dempsey and Johnson. West Ham need to find some inspiration and a couple of goals from somewhere...
Half-time score - West Ham United 0-1 Fulham
48 mins - The half-time whistle is blown. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a half-time change. Cole is warming up on the touchline and could well be on after the break.
46 mins - We're going to have at least two more minutes... Fulham start the added time by attacking. Johnson tries to run Upson, but the captain slides in superbly.
44 mins - Fulham break in numbers and, although West Ham repel the initial wave of attack, Salcido gets his shot away. Green handles the ball well in the slippery conditions.
42 mins - This is getting very frustrating to watch. Barrera does well to find Piquionne, but the Frenchman chooses to pass to Parker instead of shooting from 18 yards. When he does, the Hammer of the Year has strayed offside.
41 mins - Obinna tries his best to get on the scoresheet, tricking his way past two defenders before dragging his shot wide of the far post.
37 mins - This is getting a bit silly. Duff runs into Jacobsen and throws himself to the turf. Free-kick, according to the referee. Murphy crosses and Dempsey is penalised.
36 mins - Marriner has his book out again, this time for Etuhu. That was never a booking, to be honest. He may have impeded Parker, but a free-kick would have sufficed.
33 mins - GOAL! Well, he clearly wasn't badly hurt, was he. Davies' pass loops up into the air to Dempsey, who gets goal-side of the Hammers defence before guiding the ball into the top corner from ten yards. Dempsey runs off to celebrate.
32 mins - Marriner shows yellow to Parker, despite the midfielder looking to have cleanly won the ball from Dempsey. Not for the first time, the American goes down as if he's hurt, but is quickly up on his feet.
31 mins - That, ladies and gentlemen, is a dive. Murphy plays a fantastic pass over the top for Johnson, but the American fails to control before flinging himself to the ground.
30 mins - Obinna brings the ball clear with a clever drop of the shoulder, but just as he threatens to run through the whole Fulham team, he loses his footing. Fulham break, but Johnson cannot keep his shot down.
29 mins - Dempsey is down again, this time following a challenge from Parker. Parker smiles. I'm not sure he even touched him.
28 mins - Scott Parker drives forward after stealing the ball from Murphy. He gives the ball away initially, but Jacobsen wins it back and finds Noble, who plays the ball wide for Barrera. The winger crosses, but Piquionne had stopped his run and Schwarzer claims.
26 mins - Barrera closes down Salcido and when the left-back passes back to Schwarzer, Piquionne comes within a yard of nicking the ball from off the Australian's toe. Close...
25 mins - Dempsey is down again. He has a nasty shiner under his left eye. Replays show he may have been caught by Da Costa's arm as the pair jumped for a header. Obinna is OK, by the way.
23 mins - Barrera brings the ball forward well down the right before finding Obinna. The Nigerian cuts on to his left foot and tries to shoot, only for fellow countryman Etuhu to make a superb sliding challenge. Obinna inadvertantly kicks Etuhu's boot. He stays down and needs some treatment.
20 mins - West Ham are upping it. Jacobsen makes a fantastic run and Parker finds him. The right-back's cross flicks off a Fulham head and lands at Noble's feet. He beats two defenders before the ball is deflected to Boa Morte, but his cross is easily cleared by Hangeland.
18 mins - After yet another change of shirt - he's now in No16 - Duff is back on again! Barrera concedes possession before winning it back. Noble tries to curl a ball around Hughes for Piquionne, but Schwarzer is alive to the danger and hacks clear.
16 mins - Obinna takes the set piece, but over-hits it and the ball bounces behind for a goal kick. Duff needs more running repairs...
15 mins - West Ham attack down the right and force Duff to head out for a throw level with the edge of the penalty area. Obinna works an opening and crosses left footed, but Hughes is there to head clear. Da Costa keeps the pressure on and wins a free-kick about 35 yards from goal.
14 mins - It's been fairly uninspiring stuff so far. Both teams are probing for an opening, but so far the back fours have been well on top.
10 mins - Duff has possession about 25 yards out and shoots. The ball goes well wide and the Irishman wants a corner, but the referee disagrees and awards a goal kick.
9 mins - Davies takes a short corner to Duff, who has come back on sporting a shirt with no name or number on the back, He crosses and Green punches. Noble and Boa Morte complete the clearance.
8 mins - Duff has an eye injury and is told to go and have it seen to by the physio. For the moment, Fulham are down to ten. It fails to quell their ambition, though, as Salcido lofts a cross to the back post and Upson heads behind.
6 mins - The Hammers do up their game. Boa Morte finds Gabbidon, who swaps passes with Parker and wins a corner. Noble to take... Can Piquionne repeat his trick against Spurs? He nearly does, winning a towering header that is headed out from off the line by Carlos Salcido.
5 mins - The crowd crank up the noise. West Ham have been a little uncertain in the early stages and have yet to find their passing rhythm.
3 mins - Barrera and Jacobsen combine before Piquionne makes a good run down the right channel. The Frenchman crosses, but it's too close to Schwarzer.
2 mins - Gabbidon goes in hard on Dempsey. The American clutches his leg and referee Marriner decides to book the West Ham No4. Harsh is that. Dempsey is quickly back on his feet and jogs to the edge of the box. West Ham deal with the initial free-kick but the ball falls to Dempsey. He holds off Parker and shoots, but Green can watch the ball fly past his far post.
1 min - Fulham show first, but Upson is there to clear before Boa Morte is fouled. The Portuguese, of course, is playing against his former club.
3pm - Obinna and Piquionne get us underway...
2.59pm - The mascots make their way to the touchline and the two captains, Upson and Murphy, shake hands. West Ham will kick-off, shooting towards the Sir Trevor Brooking Stand end of the stadium.
2.57pm - Here come the two teams, welcomed by loud cheers from the home supporters. Fulham have brought a decent following, to be fair to them, considering they haven't won away from home in the league since 15 August 2009.
2.55pm - Fulham centre-back Brede Hangeland and West Ham right-back Lars Jacobsen are good friends from their time together at FC Copenhagen, where they won two Danish Superliga titles. Let's hope only Jacobsen is smiling this afternoon come 5pm... 'Bubbles' starts to play as the rain gets harder, kick-off is rapidly approaching...
2.52pm - A little bird has told me that England goalkeeper coach Ray Clemence is here today. He can't be here to watch Mark Schwarzer, can he?! England, remember, face Montenegro in a UEFA 2012 qualifier a week on Tuesday.
2.48pm - Match of the Day 2 presenter Kevin Day is being interviewed pitchside. Day is spending the day - clever, eh! - with Chairman David Gold. A film crew visited Mr Gold's house this morning, meeting Tevez the goldfish and viewing the Chairman's collection of West Ham memorabilia. Match of the Day 2 will be screened on BBC2 on Sunday evening from 10.10pm.
2.45pm - The early morning sunshine has disappeared and it is now a cloudy and cool afternoon in east London. West Ham have got a great Premier League record against Fulham, having been beaten just twice in 14 top-flight meetings between the two clubs. Another victory would definitely take the Hammers out of the bottom three, dumping Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool into the bottom three. Wolves have already been beaten this afternoon, going down 2-0 at Wigan Athletic.
Good afternoon and welcome to the Boleyn Ground for West Ham United's third Barclays Premier League home London derby in succession.
Having been defeated by Chelsea and beaten Tottenham Hotspur, Avram Grant's side will hope to end the trio of capital clashes with a victory - extending the club's unbeaten run to four matches in all competitions in the process.
Grant makes just one change to the starting XI that beat Spurs a week ago, bringing in Pablo Barrera for stomach bug victim Kieron Dyer, who misses out. Herita Ilunga returns to the substitutes bench after recovering from a back injury. James Tomkins and Junior Stanislas also return to the matchday 18 after impressing for the reserves in midweek.
West Ham United: Green, Jacobsen, Da Costa, Upson, Gabbidon, Barrera (Cole 69), Parker, Noble, Boa Morte, Obinna, Piquionne
Subs: Stech, Ilunga, Tomkins, Kovac, Stanislas, McCarthy
Fulham: Schwarzer, Baird, Hughes, Hangeland, Salcido, Duff (Gera 69), Etuhu, Murphy, Davies (Riise 90), E.Johnson (Kamara 77), Dempsey
Subs: Etheridge, Pantsil, Haliche, Greening